Foley Hires Architect for New Senior Center, Gets First Look at Aquatics Design

The Foley City Council on June 15 adopted Resolution 26-0323, hiring Williams Blackstock Architects to design the city's new senior center and clearing the way for the long-discussed project to move from planning into design.

The Birmingham-based firm will handle professional design services for the building, which the city plans to construct near the former National Guard armory behind City Hall. According to the city's prior reporting on the project, the contract is valued at $434,920 against a total projected construction cost of roughly $5 million. A memo from David Thompson of the city's leisure services department accompanied the resolution.

The council voted in April to seek design proposals rather than renovate the existing center — a roughly 7,000-square-foot building at 304 E. Rose Ave. that officials have described as heavily used. "It's by far better to do a purpose-built building where you get better bang for your buck," Mayor Ralph Hellmich said at the April meeting, noting that the city had explored repurposing the old library building but found renovation costs prohibitive. Under the schedule outlined by the city, design work runs through the end of 2026, with bidding in early 2027, construction starting in March 2027 and substantial completion targeted for February 2028.

The same meeting gave the council its first public look at preliminary designs for a new aquatics center, listed on the agenda as a discussion of the project. Three documents were presented: elevation options dated June 5, a preliminary pool and parking layout dated June 8, and a revised floor plan dated May 19. No site, cost estimate or schedule for the aquatics project appeared on the agenda itself, though the preliminary drawings were prepared by Lathan McKee Architects of Montgomery. The facility has been described in prior Gulf Coast Media coverage and by city officials as a year-round indoor pool.

Preliminary elevation of the proposed Foley Aquatic Center, presented to the City Council on June 15. Courtesy City of Foley / Lathan McKee Architects.

Preliminary floor plan showing a competition pool, therapy pool and 250 bleacher seats. Courtesy City of Foley / Lathan McKee Architects.

That project has been in the works for more than two years. The council authorized a site survey and design work for an indoor pool at Max Griffin Park, on West Roosevelt Avenue, in April 2024, after residents ranked an indoor pool a top priority in a city strategic-planning survey. A July 2024 public-input meeting at the Foley Civic Center drew more than 100 residents, who voiced support for a competition-length lap pool, a therapy and leisure pool, zero-entry access, water slides and a splash pad. The facility is intended to replace the city's seasonal outdoor pool, which dates to 1953.

Prior coverage has cited a cost of roughly $6 million for the aquatics center, though no appropriation ordinance or bid award has been publicly reported. Earlier timelines described by city officials called for design completion in spring 2025, construction beginning in August 2025 and an opening by the end of 2026 — a schedule that the June review of still-preliminary drawings suggests has slipped.

The senior center contract was one of two professional-services items before the council. The board also took up Resolution 26-0322, approving WAS Design's proposal for landscape architectural work on the Rose Trail North Segment rehabilitation, also accompanied by a memo from Thompson. Longer-range city plans referenced in prior coverage include a new library, a civic center and a performing arts venue.