City of Foley Building a Sports Tourism Model
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
June 16, 2025
FOLEY Ala. Foley is on the move with new companies, a new hotel, more parking downtown, and more sports tourism on the horizon!
The Foley Cobblestone Hotel will add 73 rooms to the growing tourist area. Foley city administrator Mike Thompson said the plan is to bring in more visitors and he hopes the city will also be a hot spot for sports tourism.
“This particular project is very important to the city,” Thompson said. “We have a large sports tourism facility just to the north of here and having another hotel that is walking distance of our event center, it really makes a difference in us retaining some of the lodging that we want to get from our Sports Tourism facilities.”
The city also recently purchased several properties downtown to be used for public parking.
Foley has also built pickleball courts and sand volleyball courts that can be used by locals and for sports tournaments.
“A lot of important people helped get this thing across the finish line,” Griesbach said. “Thanks to the mayor, Mike Thompson, everybody at the city of Foley, all the inspection teams, the planning commission, people over at Riviera Utilities. Everyone has been so helpful and made this a great project.”
Jeremy Griesbach, president of development for Cobblestone Hotels, said the Foley hotel is Cobblestone’s second in Alabama. The company has been in talks with Foley since 2019.
A third Cobblestone Hotel is being built in Bay Minette.
Several other projects are currently in the planning stage as more businesses move to town.
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