ORANGE BEACH, AL – So what is the word on a Rouse’s Supermarket coming to Orange Beach at Canal Road and Alabama 161?

“I don’t think they’re coming,” Mayor Tony Kennon said. “The problem was the property they purchased. ALDOT would only allow right in and right out so it created nothing but a series of U-turns and circles.”

The company was considering buying the lot if it could work out traffic issues with the Alabama Department of Transportation. They were proposing entrances off of Callaway Drive onto Canal Road and onto Alabama 161 from the Orange Beach Justice Center. Both roads are state highways and under state jurisdiction.

Orange Beach Auto and Marine Supply and the small boat business would be removed under that plan, and the Kangaroo on the corner would stay. The auto and marine store is moving anyway and has a new site under construction next to Repeat After Me on Canal Road about a mile west of Alabama 161.

“I talked to Mr. Rouse and when we talked it was going to be hard to have a grocery store where you only have one way to get in and you have to make a U-turn to get out,” Kennon said. “He was going to look at other places on Canal Road.”

Rouse’s, Alexander said, wanted at traffic light at the Alabama 161 entrance and a full-access entrance off of Canal Road, but ALDOT said both are too close to the existing light at the intersection of Alabama 161 and Alabama 180.

“There was just no way to put anymore lights anywhere,” Kennon said.

City officials continue to look for a site for the store on Canal Road, but options are limited.

“He was very concerned about the distance to his other store (in Gulf Shores) and didn’t want to be much further west,” Alexander said.

Councilman Jerry Johnson, who lives in east Orange Beach, was hopeful the store could work out moving to that location.

“That site was ideal for them because it was very perfect for the density from Cotton Bayou all the way down to Perdido Gate,” Johnson said. “I wanted them there.”

Kennon said he’d heard from many residents who wanted the store to locate there.

“I think they were the most requested business I’ve heard of in a long time.”

According to Baldwin County tax records, Augustus and Betty L. Kendall own two parcels in the area previously considered for the store. Those two are one directly east of the Kangaroo, valued at $260,400 on Oct. 1, and another parcel that runs from Alabama 161 to Callaway Drive.

The Alabama 161 to Callaway Drive parcel was valued at $615,700. A smaller lot at the north entrance to the Orange Beach Justice Center and fronting Alabama 161, was listed as being owned by Powersouth and valued at $188,200.

The Kangaroo parcel is listed as owned by Margaret L. Harkness and valued at $846,600.

A parcel at the southwest corner of the Canal Road and Callaway Drive is listed as being owned by Merrill P. Thomas and G. Lyon. Its Oct. 1 property value was listed as $345,000.

All of these values were assessed by the county for property tax purposes on Oct. 1.