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Spanish Fort, the smallest of the towns on the Eastern Shore, is also the most accessible to Mobile via the Causeway and Interstate 10. But this small municipality, incorporated in 1993, is home to some of the biggest changes the Eastern Shore has seen in years. Chief among the development is the upscale Eastern Shore Centre, a 462,000-square-foot lifestyle mall that opened in November 2004. Among the tenants: Pottery Barn, Coldwater Creek, Dillards, Talbots, Williams-Sonoma, Jos. A. Bank and a number of fine eateries (Rousso's seafood, Santa Fe Fajita Company and Moe's Southwest Grill among them.) Another mall, The Spanish Fort Town Center anchored by a Bass Pro Shop, is also on the drawing board. The city also successfully annexed the Causeway, the spit of land built between Mobile and Baldwin counties. The Causeway will be home to a state-planned $4.5 million conference center, which will join the handful of seafood restaurants there. Finally, Spanish Fort High School, a $15 million state-of-the-art facility with a geothermal power source, opened in the fall of 2005.
Spanish Fort High School opened in the fall of 2005
Right now, though, Spanish Fort's burgeoning family population counts its schools as the town's pride and joy: Spanish Fort School (K through 6), Rockwell Elementary (K through 6) and Spanish Fort High School (7 through 11). (Comparitive test scores bear out the schools' successes - I have the scores if you are interested.) Property has been secured for a new middle school and construction should begin soon. Spanish Fort now has its own Mardi Gras parade (they double-back on the parade route to make it seem longer).
In part because I live in Spanish Fort, and believe in its future, I sell a lot of homes here. In fact, no other agent has sold more existing homes here since 2002. (I sell new homes, too.)
Population: 6,128
Average household income: $80,971
Median age: 40.09
Area: North of Interstate 10, the town stretches 12 miles east to west.
Total businesses: 241 (56 retail, 18 finance, insurance and real estate, and 89 services)
Churches: Protestant denominations include Presbyterian, United Methodist, Baptist, interdenomenational and non-denomenational
Neighborhoods: Even in this small, only recently incorporated town, there is quite a variety in housing. Wilson Heights, one of the oldest neighborhoods, has 1960s-era houses starting in the $110,000s. The older part of Spanish Fort Estates and Spanish Village has somewhat larger homes, generally priced between $140,000 and $190,000. Newer sections of Spanish Fort Estates begin in the $240,000s and go up to $325,000. Subdivisions offering homes only a few years old include the Woodlands and Oakridge, with homes beginning in the upper upper $190,000s. Out Highway 31 is Wakefield, where homes start in the upper $190,000s. Estate-sized lots mark the executive homes in Blakeley Forest $325,000 and up. North of the city limits, but within the Spanish Fort school district are the homes in Saluda Ridge, the Lakes of Spanish Fort, Stillwater, Shenandoah, Girdletree and Blakeley Oaks. New subdivisions are being built in this area. TimberCreek Golf Community has been annexed into Daphne, but geographically is situation adjacent to Spanish Fort.
Recreation: Historic Blakeley State Park, where the last major battle of the Civil War was fought for hiking and camping; Meaher State Park on Mobile Bay for camping and fishing; a new $110,000 city park for children built in the theme of a fort; Spanish Fort Dixie Youth Baseball and park; and the Causeway for fishing and boating. For youth and adult recreation, see Daphne and Fairhope.
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