A long-neglected corridor in Mobile, Ala., once known as the city's "Black Wall Street" and the epicenter of business activity for Black residents during segregation, is finally getting a multi-million-dollar makeover.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, formerly Davis Avenue (originally named after the Confederacy's president until it was renamed after the 20th century civil rights icon in 1986) is the focus of a major revitalization effort backed by city, county and federal partners.

The Mobile City Council approved a $11.3 million contract on Oct. 14, 2025, with Mobile-based McElhenney Construction Co. for a federally funded rebuild of a 1.2-mi. stretch of the historic street, according to AL.com.

The work comes as efforts led by Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood gain momentum to develop a civil rights and cultural heritage district — an area referred to as "The Avenue."

"I think the city recognizes the incredible historical and cultural importance of this street," said Jennifer Greene, the city of Mobile's director of program and project management. "We are very excited to be working side-by-side with the community, county and Commissioner Ludgood to bring the street back to where it once was."

The MLK Avenue project includes the construction of new underground water and sewer lines, improvements to the road's alignment, new sidewalks, a bicycle lane, on-street parking, improved drainage, new street lighting and signals.

"When residents and visitors can safely walk, bike and connect along the MLK corridor, it will boost foot traffic to historic sites, local businesses and the many cultural anchors along the corridor," Ludgood said.

Plans call for narrowing the street to a two-lane road with crosswalks to ensure its safety for pedestrians, including children who attend The Pathway 6-8 School nearby. The portion of the roadway to be improved connects Beauregard Street at Bishop State Community College northwest to Butchers Lane on the north side of Three Mile Creek.

The project is considered an additional phase of the original and federally funded $22 million overhaul to Broad Street which loops around downtown Mobile and connects with MLK Avenue. That work was completed in 2023.

MLK Avenue's rehabilitation will be paid for, in part, with $2.1 million that was awarded as compensation from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon-BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Other funding included $6.6 million via a federal grant administered through the Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), $3 million from the Mobile Area Water & Sewer System (MAWSS) and $1.6 million from the city of Mobile.

Greene said the construction is expected to be under way before year's end, once the final funding is secured from the council that oversees the BP oil spill settlement fund through the Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act).

After the MLK Avenue revitalization does begin, AL.com noted, it is expected to last 18 months.

"It's an area-changing project stabilizing the streets and giving it walkability [and] landscaping," said Mobile City Councilman William Carroll, District 2, who represents the area in and around MLK Avenue. "We not only have an opportunity to revitalize the street but anchor an entire community."

Greene added that the project is similar to a "complete streets" overhaul that recently moved forward along St. Louis Street in downtown Mobile. That $16.8 million project also is being built by McElhenney Construction.

"A complete street project prioritizes walking, biking and safe driving," she said.

Greene explained that old infrastructure can be found underneath the roadway in the historic district. As a result, it needs drainage upgrades, new curb and gutter and inlets. MAWSS will use its funding to replace the water lines and make sewer repairs.

Project Restores MLK Avenue's Rich Heritage

The improvements come amid a growing focus on the street, once the epicenter of Mobile's Black community life and business activity during and after segregation.

It also is a city street that has drawn both Black and white celebrities alike throughout its history, noted AL.com.

Baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson once made a memorable appearance to the avenue in 1948 to speak before a crowd that included a 14-year-old Hank Aaron. In addition, music icons like Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis Presley all entertained in venues along the street.

In an effort to highlight the past, while reorienting MLK Avenue's future, the heritage district is being spearheaded by Ludgood and the Mobile County Commission.

The effort has already seen progress. Earlier this year, the new $1.4 million Isom Clemon Civil Rights Memorial Park was opened at the intersection of MLK and Hamilton avenues and Congress Street.

In 2023, a library branch that once served the segregated Black community was converted into a cultural center and opened about one block from the park.

Other projects are under way along or adjacent to MLK Avenue, including a revitalization of the 86-year-old Ace Theatre into a multi-faceted building that will include a center for jazz musicians, the rehabilitation of the Dave Patton House, named after a Black real estate entrepreneur from the early 1900s; and a local legacy site honoring Vernon Crawford, Mobile's first Black attorney.

Housing projects also are planned along the route, and Bishop State Community College has expansion projects on the drawing board as well.

"When all of this happens, you will have people back in the community, commerce will come back and investment will start," said Eric Finley, a Mobile historian whose family has deep roots in the city and operates businesses on MLK Avenue.

He told AL.com that the rehabilitation of the street's infrastructure will create a new avenue that is attractive for Generation Z, or youths born between 1997-2012.

"We've got to get their vision and get them on board for the future so that when they come back [to Mobile], they will say, ‘I've got to go to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue,'" Finley elaborated as he recalled similar comments made by older generations who longed to return to the former Davis Avenue whenever they visited Mobile.

"I knew people who were so engrossed in that street that whenever they were about to die, they would say, ‘Take me down the Avenue one more time,'" he said. "We've got to get back to that type of community."