Sports Illustrated/Travel + Leisure to build first resort destination in Tuscaloosa

Mark Hughes Cobb, Tuscaloosa News
Updated ·3 min read

Sports Illustrated knows Tuscaloosa so well, it's moving here. Or setting down a major footprint, anyway.

By the end of 2025, The Druid City will become home to the first Sports Illustrated Resort destination, a project centered on active lifestyles, featuring a full-service hotel, vacation ownership club, residential condominiums, SI Fit Health/Wellness center, dining, entertainment and more.

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Resort facilities will share a cohesive design that "immerses guests and owners in iconic moments from nearly 70 years of Sports Illustrated content," according to a news release from the Decker Royal Agency.

Sports Illustrated provided illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)
Sports Illustrated provided illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)

Though it's obviously early days, the project is expected to open by late 2025 on Rice Mine Loop, just north of the Woolsey Finnell Bridge in Tuscaloosa. That area had previously been announced as a potential location for other projects, including The Bend, a mixed-use residential/shopping/entertainment plan.

This development will be a "game-changer" for the city, said Norman Crow, city councilor for District 3, where the development will grow.

"It's exciting to have a one-of-a-kind themed hotel connected to an iconic brand like Sports Illustrated," said Crow, who has been one of the small circle of University of Alabama and city officials included in the talks. "I think that, like PopStroke, it's going to be a year-around destination."

Though the two sports- and entertainment-themed developments are only coincidental, the Sports Illustrated Resort will be just minutes away from Tiger Woods' PopStroke, a family-friendly entertainment venue, with dining options, ice cream parlors, bars offering wine and craft beer, playgrounds and outdoor games.

PopStroke groundwork is underway on Harper Lee Drive, adjacent to McFarland Boulevard, east of the UA campus. Assuming construction continues as planned, PopStroke may be open by November.

Sports Illustrated provided mock-up illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)
Sports Illustrated provided mock-up illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)

Tuscaloosa's resort will be the first of its kind, as a partnership between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co. Sports Illustrated had previously developed somewhat similar Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, but this will be the debut model of the companies' collaboration.

It's a natural enough fit, since both have recognized Tuscaloosa's dominance in the sports world. For its decades of Crimson Tide champions, the University of Alabama has graced more Sports Illustrated covers than any other university. Travel + Leisure recently named Tuscaloosa one of its best 25 college towns in the U.S. for 2023.

Sports Illustrated provided mock-up illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)
Sports Illustrated provided mock-up illustrations of its future resorts. The first of its kind, a collaboration between Sports Illustrated and Travel + Leisure Co., will be built in Tuscaloosa. Other college-town, and leisure-destination resorts are also in planning stages. (Credit: Sports Illustrated Resorts)

Travel + Leisure Co., which lists itself as the world’s leading membership and leisure travel company, and Sports Hospitality Ventures, LLC, hotel and resorts licensee for the Sports Illustrated brand across North America and the Caribbean, plan to open similar resorts elsewhere, in other college towns rich with avid fan bases. Other properties will also be developed in leisure destinations, including beach clubs and experience parks.

Planning for this resort has apparently been in talks for years, said Kyle South, CEO and president of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama. Previously announced proposals for the Rice Mine Loop land, adjacent to the Randall Family Park and Trailhead, had included a possible Southern Living-themed hotel, and then The Bend.

"Obviously, it's a potentially huge deal for the community, and developments north of the river," said South, who took over the top Chamber job July 1.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa will be first college town to get Sports Illustrated resort