There will soon be a steady procession of high-end recreational vehicles -- Simonized, half-million-dollar elephants with plasma televisions and granite countertops -- rolling along Sun Belt interstates, searching for a place by the beach to park.

Or so developers in south Baldwin County are betting.

On 40 acres off the Foley Beach Express, Sagebrush Realty Development is mulching trees and preparing to excavate an H-shaped fishing lake to be centerpiece of its 176-lot, full-service motor coach resort, Bella Terra. Around 4,000 square feet in a four-star setting will cost between $88,000 and $200,000.

Four-story facility is expected to open by fall of next year

A Hampton Inn & Suites slated for U.S. 431 and Caldwell Lane will be the first hotel in the Big Cove area.

Developers and city officials are expected to gather today to launch construction of the four-story, 52,000-square-foot building. The $8.5 million project is a development of Hospitality Group LLC of Huntsville. Integral Hospitality Solutions of Birmingham will manage the 95-room hotel.

Ask Jo Ann Barnes where she’s from and she explains Homestead, Fla., in very specific terms.

“South of Miami. Where Hurricane Andrew hit,” she said.

Three generations of the Barnes family moved to Dothan in July of this year — Jo Anne, her
son, Bobby, and Bobby’s daughter, Stacy. After spending almost a lifetime in south Florida, Jo Ann Barnes said there were a number of factors which lured the family to Dothan. Including low property taxes.

BNI - Business Network International - wants to give small-business owners and sales professionals referrals. Chapters meet Tuesday through Thursday for breakfast or lunch. For more information on dates and times available, call 866-291-9496, e-mail meg@bni.com or visit bnialabama.com. BNI also is forming a chapter in Hampton Cove. For more information, contact Jennifer Rogers at 683-9952 or Jerry Williamson at 513-6448. For information on the BNI chapter that meets each Wednesday at the Fraternal Order of Eagles, call Ronnie Colvin at 617-9881.

Networking and Business Success has several chapters in the area. For one that fits your schedule, call 527-8082 or 828-7515 or visit osbo@osbo.org.

Monday

The largest building permit issued during the week of Nov. 5-9 in the city of Huntsville went to Martin & Cobey Construction, $6.74 million, for a building for Sconnell Properties LLC at 6500 Fed-Ex Way.

Other permits valued at more than $20,000 were:

Southeast Construction LLC, $567,570, a building for Home Instead Senior Care, 2715 Spring Gate Lane.

New jobs are coming to the Heart of the Valley. Comcast is bringing a regional call center to Huntsville.

Comcast executives joined Mayor Loretta Spencer to announce the opening of a new Comcast regional call center.

The facility will be located in Research Park and will serve five different states.

"It's a big deal for Huntsville because probably a year from now, we will be adding over 250 jobs and about 75 or 80 of those jobs will be in the next 30 days," said Virgil Caudill, regional vice president for Comcast.

Mayor Sandy Kirkindall and aide Jessica Bradley told retailers and restaurateurs: "You need to be in Madison." Kirkindall, Bradley and Huntsville-area developers Scott McLain and John Blue were shopping for new retail stores and restaurant opportunities at the annual International Council of Shopping Centers' Southeastern Conference Oct. 23-24 in Atlanta.

Businesses, developers and cities shared information in a trade show venue. Kirkindall said the focus of the conference was primarily on "power centers" such as Huntsville's West Side Center on University Drive, which includes Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond and similar stores. He said he and Bradley made a lot of good contacts for Madison.

Three agents with AEGIS-Michaud Properties completed extensive training through the Alabama Real Estate Commission and received their associate broker designation.
The three agents are Chrissy Bianchi, Anna Kate Ingram and Sally Byrd.
Bianchi is a 20-year resident of Alabama and an Auburn University graduate.
Ingram, born and raised in Pike Road, graduated from Auburn University with a degree in business administration with emphasis in marketing.
Byrd is an Auburn University graduate and a 29-year Montgomery resident. She has 13 years experience in real estate.

Randy McKinney, regional developer of Realty Executives MidSouth, headquartered in Gulf Shores, Alabama, will be installed as regional vice fresident for Region 5 for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) on November 12 at the annual NAR Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada next week. Region 5 includes Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

McKinney, who has been the regional developer for Realty Executives MidSouth for more than ten years, has long been active on local and state Realtor Associations. He was the financial vice president for the REALTORS® National Marketing Institute in 1992-1993, president of the Manager’s Council in 1994, served as an executive committee member, national director, as well as other committees and task forces for NAR.