MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) – The Mobile City Council Finance Committee met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the latest on the financing process for the new Civic Center project.

“If you don’t take risk… you don’t move forward,” said City Council member and Finance Committee Chairman Joel Davis.

Davis said building a new civic center is certainly a risk, but the city has decided to take it.

City Council members along with Deputy Finance Director Scott Collins discussed the cost of the civic center project.

Councilman Davis said there are several factors to consider when trying to anticipate a project of this size.

“What happens if the economy takes a turn? You know, all kinds of things can happen that would affect the city’s ability to continue doing what it’s doing while paying for the civic center down the road,” he said.

The Council discussed how a future administration could also affect the duration and funding of the project.

Collins said a strategic financing plan will allow the debt on this project to be paid off in less than 20 years.

He said the bidding process is underway and he expects bids to be returned in early February next year.

The council discussed how a future administration could also affect the duration and funding of the project.

“Even with that delayed date, from January to February, we don’t think that’s going to have an adverse effect on the overall project,” Collins said. “I think if we suffer another two- or three-month setback, that may be problematic, but as we sit here today we believe that timeline will hold, especially if we go through the bid return process.”

Based on current designs, city officials said demolition of the current civic center site and new construction will cost about $300 million, and so far that figure has not changed.

The Finance Committee meeting ended with the decision to meet again in December for another financial update on this project.

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