The EDC and Moody held a groundbreaking on Nov. 18 for the 172 acre Kelly Creek Commerce Park.

The project is a $125 million dollar investment estimated to create 600 new jobs for the city of Moody. 

“You can’t put a price on jobs,” said Mayor Joe Lee. “It’s amazing.”

Lee thanked Michael Mouron, chairman of Capstone Real Estate, Mike Graham, President of Graham & Company and Sonny Culp, Senior Vice President of Graham & Company for picking Moody as their next project destination. He also thanked the city council members, the St. Clair County Commission, and Don Smith and the EDC.

“This project is another good example of how economic development works here in St. Clair County. We’re proud to welcome them to the City of Moody this morning,” said Lee.

Smith said he and Culp have been discussing this process for nearly a decade. The process began when Culp contacted the original owners of the land. The property at the time was not for sale and was primarily being used to sell timber. 

Culp resumed contact with the owners again in 2018 and entered into a contact to own the land in 2019. 

“To get where we are today took staying the saddle from a lot of people,” said Culp. 

According to Graham the first developments on the land are a $5.3 million investment. Twenty-seven percent of those funds came from Growing Alabama funds, Alabama Power, Metro Bank and First Horizon Bank.

“We feel like we’re part of a rockstar team here,” said Graham.