News

Project expected to open in downtown Fairhope in October

By Kathy Jumper
Real Estate Editor
Mobile Press-Register

Local architects Mac and Gina Walcott aim to go green by installing a 35-foot-tall windmill at a new open-air market they plan to open in downtown Fairhope in October.

It will cost $200,000 to retrofit the 6,600-square-foot building the couple owns at 85 N. Bancroft St., creating a LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - structure to be called the Windmill Market.

"This will be a great example of going into an existing facility to make it green," Gina Walcott said. "We've got a lot of green initiatives planned, such as the windmill, a community garden and capturing the rainwater to feed the gardens."

The market will be used to demonstrate the tools of green building, the Walcotts said. The market should have about 45 booths where vendors can feature their locally made or owned products, he said.

The Walcotts and their partners at Walcott Adams Verneuille Architects in Fairhope have designed the open-air market. Watershed, an affiliate company of the architectural firm, will serve as the green consultants.

The $15,000 windmill, with its three 12-foot-wide blades, should provide power for most of the building, which will have a roof and awnings, but no wall panels, according to Mac Walcott.

The Walcotts bought the windmill from Gulf Coast Green Power in Fairhope, the same company that installed a 45-foot windmill at Lulu's at Homeport Marina in Gulf Shores last fall. The windmills or wind turbines are manufac tured in Flagstaff, Ariz., said Gulf Coast Green Power owner Robert Harris, who opened a year ago. He said he's sold nine windmills to businesses and homeowners in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

"You need a wind source," he said, but people are reducing their power bill by 20 percent to 60 percent.

Fairhope's Board of Adjustments granted a special-use permit for the wind generator last week. But first, Fairhope City Planner Jonathan Smith took three members to see the windmill at Lulu's.

"I wanted them to hear the noise from the windmill," Smith said. "Unfortunately, the air was stagnant, and there was not much wind. We did talk to some of the employees, and most never even noticed any noise."

The noise produced will probably not be heard above the ambient noise of the wind itself, according to Walcott.