Baldwin County Alabama Economic Development Alliance | BCEDA

Loxley, Ala. – The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, has announced plans to locate a last-mile delivery facility in Baldwin County, Alabama. With plans to invest more than $2.2 million and create more than 20 jobs, The Home Depot’s new location in Loxley represents a larger corporate strategy to deploy more last-mile facilities or Market Delivery Operations (MDOs) across the U.S. to meet the retailer’s growing demand and supply-chain shift.

The Home Depot is in the midst of a multi-year $1.2 billion supply chain upgrade that includes dozens of new facilities, including the Market Delivery Operation in Loxley.

“Home Depot’s investment in Loxley’s rapidly growing distribution and logistics corridor is a testament to the growth of Baldwin County and our leadership’s strategic economic development efforts,” says Lee Lawson, President and CEO of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. “The I-10 Gulf Coast Logistics Center in Loxley has been a home run for our community and now serves as the gold standard along the Gulf Coast for class A logistics development.”

The Home Depot will lease approximately 53,500 SF at the I-10 Gulf Coast Logistics Center, which is a private speculative Class-A industrial development located north of I-10 in Loxley. The I-10 Gulf Coast Logistics Center, represented by Allen Garstecki of JLL Mobile, has more than 480,000 SF planned, and 90% of the 3-phase development is currently pre-leased. This center is also home to Imperial Dade’s recently announced location, where they will employ more than 55 people and invest over $20 million.

“The City of Loxley is excited to have this investment by The Home Depot in our community”, said Richard Teel, Mayor of Loxley. “Loxley continues to see growth and success, and this announcement further confirms the increasing economic activity we are seeing as a result.”

About The Home Depot

The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer. At the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2022, the company operated a total of 2,319 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company employs approximately 500,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index. The Home Depot is #17 on the 2022 Fortune 500.

Foley, AL – South Baldwin Regional Medical Center has provided quality and safe care to patients living and visiting the Gulf Coast area since 1958. What was once a 35-bed facility will grow to 142 beds upon completing the expansion and modernization project in Foley, Alabama. 

While official work began on the grounds at the hospital in late February, plans for the expansion and modernization project started long before. Foley has been referred to as “The Forward City” and was deemed the fastest-growing city in Baldwin County between 2020 and 2022. Foley is one of the largest municipalities comprising South Baldwin County, along with Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. South Baldwin’s municipalities grew an average of 43% in the last ten years, and the average annual growth rate is anticipated to be 3-4%. Over the last few years, the area’s impressive population growth cemented South Baldwin Regional Medical Center’s expansion plan. 

The new five-story, more than 200,000-square-foot patient tower addition to the main medical campus at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center will house a dedicated outpatient entrance with new surgery and endoscopy suites, a Women’s and Children’s unit with expanded capacity, additional medical/surgical capacity with doubled ICU capacity and a shell for future growth. Renovations in the existing facility will complete the new addition and support a welcoming patient environment. 

“South Baldwin Regional Medical Center’s patient tower will offer more space, more services, and continued care to meet our growing community’s needs,” said Margaret Roley, Chief Executive Officer at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center. “We’re thrilled to see site work progress and look forward to the major advancement in care options for our patients.” 

“This modernization milestone at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center will allow for future growth in capacity and service lines and help us continue to prepare and respond to the need of the communities we serve, keeping our patients and families safe and healthy, now and for future generations to come,” said Roley. 

“Our patients and families, specifically mothers, were our top priority as we planned our expansion. There will be a floor dedicated to women’s and children’s services within the tower that is unlike any other along the Gulf Coast,” she added. 

The five-story patient tower’s second floor will be a Women’s and Children’s pavilion, housing an eight-bed labor, delivery, and recovery unit with two antepartum rooms, a C-section suite with two operating rooms, a Level II nursery, and 19 postpartum patient rooms. 

The enhancements of the project will advance coordinated care, giving patients greater access to innovative and specialized care. To ensure the ability to adjust and plan for future healthcare needs rapidly, the design plan of the tower also includes shelled-in space on the fifth floor for future growth. 

Access to quality healthcare is critical to the current and future success of our region’s economic development and quality of life. Located in the heart of Baldwin County, central to the residential population and the business community, South Baldwin Regional Medical Center will continue to provide top-notch care for Baldwin County. The construction and expansion project is expected to be completed in late 2024. 

Today, South Baldwin Regional Medical Center and South Baldwin Medical Group employ more than 1,000 employees across Baldwin County. With the addition of the patient tower, the facility plans to hire 200 more employees over the next three years. 

South Baldwin Medical Group has over 20 outlying clinics offering primary care, general surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, pulmonology, neurology, interventional pain, and urgent care, available seven days a week.