Vertical Construction on $350 Million University Beach Resort in Northport Could Start by December

Construction on the lagoon and beach club at University Beach could begin in early December, city staff said Monday, marking the first vertical work at the $350 million resort off McFarland Boulevard in west Northport.

City Administrator Tera Tubbs told the Thread that crews are close to finishing the "horizontal" public infrastructure phase and that city staff is reviewing plans for the rest of the work involved in Phase 1 of building out the resort.

"The current construction out there is all of the infrastructure that is part of what would be in the city right-of-way: water and sewer, paving, a retaining wall, some sidewalks and so forth," Tubbs said. "They're getting really close to completing that first phase, which is under their current land development permit. Staff has received plans for the rest of the infrastructure work that we're reviewing in-house."

Tubbs said the city expects to return comments to the project's designers by the first week of October.

"We are looking at vertical construction, which is actually the lagoon and the beach club, to be able to start sometime in early December," she said.

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As the Thread has extensively reported, University Beach is a sharp departure from the small neighborhood water park once pitched to Northport residents.

The former city council voted 4-1 in February 2024 to enter a public-private partnership with Texas developers to bring the attraction to Northport after then-Council President Jeff Hogg suspended the normal rules of order to force the vote on the same night the scope of the project was revealed. Hogg resigned the next month.

2025 elections saw just two incumbent councilmembers re-elected, with fresh faces taking the three other seats and the mayor's office, though the new group has said their hands are largely tied by agreements made before they were inaugurated.  Development at the controversial resort has continued during their terms.

Kent Donahue, University Beach's lead developer, said at a Q&A session in February that the resort is scheduled to open in 2029 and would eventually include a water park, a 10-acre lagoon-style pool, a hotel, 47 homes, retail space and an entertainment venue.

Marriott's Autograph Collection was announced as the resort's hotel partner in July 2025, a 144-key luxury offering meant to be built by Tuscaloosa's Harrison Construction.

At a work session before Monday's council meeting, city engineer Brad Matthews gave council members a detailed accounting of where things stand today.

He said the horizontal infrastructure package covering roads, water, sewer and storm drains in the right-of-way was permitted in November 2025, installation began in February, and most of it is now built.

Nearly all of the sewer has been constructed and tested, according to his presentation, and nearly all of the water lines are built and either tested or scheduled for testing. Most of the roads have been built through the binder layer, leaving a drivable surface that still needs a final wearing layer, along with concrete work and sidewalks.

One noteworthy exception is the work in the Alabama Department of Transportation right-of-way. Matthews said no construction has started at the intersection with Highway 82, a significant project permitted largely through ALDOT, though the city has signed off on the plans.

City staff said the developer's site plans for the water park and beach club package are in a second round of review after a resubmittal on Sept. 17, with comments expected back the first week of October.

That package covers the site's amenities but not the hotel, which requires a separate site plan, although during a Q&A earlier this year, developer Kent Donahue said he expected the 144-key luxury Marriott hotel to come up around the same time as the key components of this first phase.

The contractor handling the vertical work aims to obtain a building permit and start construction on Dec. 1, staff said. Two permits will be involved, one for the lagoon, its pump houses and water park equipment, and another for the beach club. Both will be worked on simultaneously.

Tubbs also explained a 30-month deadline built into the city's development agreement with the resort's developers.

"In the development agreement it does say that the first phase of University Beach, the part the city is building infrastructure for, which includes the beach club, the lagoon, and all of the right-of-way amenities, that is supposed to be complete within 30 months of when we approved the plans," Tubbs said.

Asked whether the project is on schedule or ahead of it, Tubbs said it is tracking as the city anticipated.

"I think it's where we expected it to be," she said. "Their hope is to be open in 2028, and so is ours."

Mayor Dale Phillips said the city is watching the privately developed project closely.

"That project is starting to take shape, as we knew that it would. I've said since I ran for election, and I've said throughout the last year, that whatever we do there has to be the best for the city. So we're keeping a watchful eye on it," Phillips said. "The developer seems to be doing what he says he's going to do, and we're keeping things checked on. Right now, everything seems to be going as planned. We'll see where we're at in the coming weeks and months."

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