My New Blog

MORE GOOD COMMENTS ABOUT THE MOBILE BAY METRO AREA!  The following is an excerpt from the Fortune Small Business article, "How To Survive The Real Estate Market" by Paul Kaihla on November 28, 2007;  2:53pm EST (http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/21/smbusiness/NLT_real_estate.fsb/index.htm?sec): 

UP MARKETS: As a whole, the national housing market will finally hit bottom - and start bouncing back - at the end of 2008, says Celia Chen, director of housing economics at Economy.com, a subsidiary of the financial rating agency Moody's (Charts). But more than a dozen major metro areas are already ahead of the curve, and enjoying modest but significant price appreciation.
Markets such as Atlanta, Austin and Dallas didn't draw enough speculators to skew prices during the housing boom. Yet they boast sufficient employment and income growth to increase demand for housing. Mobile, Ala., surprisingly, is poised to be a top performer in this group of metros: in recent years it's seen only a trickle of new housing but is currently booming thanks to billions of dollars worth of new mega-projects.
WHAT IT MEANS: Small business owners in these regions will still be able to tap home equity loans for funds, or won't face calls on existing loans from banks because of declining values.

In the Fall 2006, Mobile, Alabama was ranked "Number #1" by Entrepreneur Magazine as the best mid-size city for starting and growing a new business! ("The Mobile Bay Metro Area" was ranked "Number #5" in the 2005 year by Entrepreneur Magazine.)

There are some economists perdicting Mobile's economy will build a positive momentum in 2007 and will continue into 2008+.  Mobile, Alabama should be a bright spot nationally as well as regionally because of its strength within the shipbuilding sector, its natural gas exploration & drilling, and its low local unemployment.

Congratulations Mobile!  According to the press release on 11 MAY 2007, the officials with ThyssenKrupp German steel mill announced Mobile as the winner of the U.S.’s largest economic development project in its history.  The company selected a site in north Mobile County, Alabama as the location for a $2.9+ billion (now changed to around $4 billion) steel plant expected to be operational by the year 2010.  Governor Bob Riley joined ThyssenKrupp officials for the formal announcement in Montgomery, followed by a local community celebration in Mobile at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center at 4pm.  Special congratulations to Mobile County and the city of Mobile for their hard work on this 16-month project.

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Albert Marshall Cheney
Realty Leaders Corporation
d/b/a Cheney Appraisal Services
Post Office Box 8888
Mobile, Alabama  36689-0888
www.CheneyAppraisalServices.com
www.RealtyLeaders.biz
Albert@CheneyAppraisalServices.com (email)
AlbertCheney@Comcast.net (email)
251 533-2424 (business/mobile)
251 252-7737 (facsimile)
"An FHA/HUD Approved Appraiser!"

"Experience, Integrity, Professionalism & Quality Reports Are Always The Goal!"

Northrop Grumman and EADS Win Coveted Air Force Bid

After many months of deliberation, the U.S. Air Force announced Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS as the winner of the $40 billion contract to buy new aerial refueling tankers.

The win is a boost for Mobile’s economy as the companies have committed to building the KC-30 refueling tankers in Mobile employing more than 1,500 people at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. The companies have projected production workers will earn an average $1,250 per week in wages. The competition pitted rival companies EADS and Boeing vying for the covet Air Force contract. The Boeing KC-767 Tanker plane was the smaller and lighter plane and would have been built at its facilities in Everett, Wash.

Reactions from city, county and Mobile Area Chamber officials:

"In my judgment, the best proposal won. Mobile is an excellent location for an additional aircraft manufacturing facility in the U.S.,” said City of Mobile Mayor Sam Jones. “I am grateful to the Air Force and the extraordinary leadership of Gov. Bob Riley, Congressman Jo Bonner, Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, along with the Mobile City Council and the Mobile County Commission. The Northrop Grumman/EADS project will expand the aerospace industry in Mobile, as well as provide a tremendous amount of opportunities for additional aircraft manufacturing suppliers, and good paying jobs for the people of our region."

“Mobile has just joined Toulouse and Seattle as the world’s third major aircraft manufacturing city,” said Mobile County Commission President Stephen Nodine. “We are taking off literally and figuratively as the hottest city in America to do business.”

“We worked more than three years to land this project,” said Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean. “The positive impact this will have on everyone in Mobile is enormous. This is one of the greatest days in Mobile County history.”

“ThyssenKrupp and now EADS/Northrop Grumman! Mobile County is entering a new era of economic prosperity,” said Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood.

“A project of Northrop Grumman/EADS magnitude is a change-agent for Mobile,” Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce President Win Hallett. “We are now well-positioned to lead the United States’ aerospace industry, and look forward to the partnership’s successful integration into the Mobile market.”

“For more than two years Mobile has believed in Northrop Grumman/EADS’ bid to build aircraft refueling tankers here,” said Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Economic Development Bill Sisson. “To say we are excited is an understatement. Moving forward, in partnership with the city of Mobile, Mobile County, the Mobile Airport Authority and countless others, the Mobile Area Chamber is committed to working with Northrop Grumman and EADS to lay the foundation for what will become the home of the KC-30 tanker.”

(SOURCE:  According to the Wall Street Journal and Mobile Press-Register, sent by the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce)

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - The selection of a Mobile site for a multibillion-dollar Air Force contract has given Alabama's port city its second major industrial victory in less than a year.

The Air Force announced today it has picked Northrop Grumman and its Paris-based partner, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., to build 179 refueling tankers in Mobile.

That's expected to create about 2,000 jobs and put the city on the aeronautics industry's world map.

The contract is worth $30 billion to $40 billion over 10 to 15 years and could be even more lucrative than that.

It's the first of three deals to replace the Air Force's entire fleet of nearly 600 tankers.

Last May, German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp picked a site near Mobile for a steel plant expected to create some 2,700 jobs.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Welcome, Joey Jones!  We are glad you are here!  

Joey Jones, Birmingham Southern coach, will become the first ever football coach at the University of South Alabama.  Jones, 45, is a Mobile native and Murphy High School graduate.  He played collegiately at the University of Alabama for legendary football Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.  He leaves the Panthers program after reviving it two years ago.  (Source from NBC 15 news release.) 

Below is the report of Jones' hiring provided by The Associated Press:

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Birmingham-Southern College coach Joey Jones was hired as South Alabama's first football coach, a move that takes him back to his native Mobile and eventually into the Sun Belt Conference.

Jones met with his Birmingham-Southern team in a closed session Thursday to tell them about his decision, according to a person with knowledge of the move who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement is to be made Friday.

Through a Birmingham-Southern spokesman, Jones said he could not comment.

The 45-year-old Jones, a former Alabama player who spent time with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and USFL's Birmingham Stallions, met with South Alabama Athletic Director Joe Gottfried for the third time on Wednesday and accepted the offer Thursday.

South Alabama's trustees voted in December to start a football program that will begin play in 2009. The Jaguars will transition to full Division I-A membership in 2013 as a member of the Sun Belt Conference.

Jones coached Birmingham-Southern's first football team since 1939 last year. The Division III team was 1-7 in its first season, playing almost exclusively with freshmen and sophomores. The Panthers also won two junior varsity games.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) 

"MOBILE NO. 1" was the headline in the Mobile Press-Register on February 1, 2008.

According to front page of the local newspaper, the "County economy projected as nation's fastest-growing over the next five years," as quoted in a subtitle.

Here are some excerpts from this article: 

"Mobile County will have the fastest growing economy over the next five years among all 363 American metropolitan areas, according to a new forecast by Moody's Economy.com, growing 34.31 percent from 2007 through 2012."

This projection gives credit to "the $3.7 billion ThyssenKrupp AG steel mill, Austal USA's continued growth in shipbuilding, and the possible Northrop Grumman/EADS airplane assembly plants as among Mobile's strengths."