Mayor Maddox: Tuscaloosa Event Center Favored to Be Voted on in August

Mayor Walt Maddox said the city will likely move forward to vote to add an event center concept to Tuscaloosa in August.

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During an interview on the Steve and DC Morning Show on Townsquare Media's 95.3 The Bear on Tuesday morning, the mayor stated the final design phase should be ready to move forward in August to be put to a vote.

As previously reported by the Tuscaloosa Thread, a preliminary survey found that Tuscaloosa would be an ideal city to house a mid-size convention center that could range from 20,000 to 40,000 square feet in size.

Mayor Maddox said the city is "trying to make the most the most rational-base decision to continue to grow Tuscaloosa."

"We've got to keep growing locally on businesses and one of the ways we can do that is to continue to invest in things that draw more people to Tuscaloosa," Maddox said. "So yes, we think the event center can do that."

As previously reported, discussions on the idea of an event center for Tuscaloosa began in 2019 after Maddox's Elevate Tuscaloosa tax plan was passed, however, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the discussions from moving forward.

The city revisited the concept of moving forward with the event center after COVID conditions improved with the creation of vaccines and the COVID case number decreased.