What’s being built in Muscle Shoals right now
The one everybody asks me about is the Sportsplex, so let me give you the straight version instead of the one going around.
- Muscle Shoals Sportsplex. A 66-acre sports and entertainment complex planned for Sportsplex Drive off US-72 and US-43. The plan includes youth baseball and softball fields, 16 pickleball courts, 10 tennis courts, multipurpose fields, a walking track around a pond, a 1,000-seat amphitheater, and an indoor event center that converts to convention space. Announced May 2024 at $65 million. By February 2026 the estimate had grown to about $90 million. The new mayor and council paused the contracts on February 20, 2026. On May 4, 2026 the council overrode the mayor’s veto to keep the project going. As of mid October 2026 I found no announced groundbreaking date, and the final cost and scope are still being worked out.
- Hadrian in Barton. Not inside Muscle Shoals city limits, but it’s one of the biggest things to happen in Colbert County in years. A $2.4 billion factory making components for Navy submarines, on the old FreightCar America site near Cherokee. Ribbon cutting was March 20, 2026. Hadrian says the plant will support up to 1,000 jobs when fully running, and the Shoals Economic Development Authority estimates an average of about $35.24 an hour. Hiring started in September 2026, and full production is expected in roughly two years. More in my guide to moving here for a Hadrian job (updated September 29, 2026).
- Virginia Transformer. In May 2026 the governor announced a power transformer plant on about 90 acres at the Shoals Research Airpark in Muscle Shoals. It’s expected to employ 1,100 people, with production targeted for January 2028.
- Sound Crossings. A mixed use development on about 86 acres off Wilson Dam Road, planned for 209 single family homes, 65 townhomes and up to 60 storefronts, built in five phases. It broke ground in January 2022, and its website lists Phase One lots.
- A new elementary school. Muscle Shoals City Schools plans a new elementary school, about $45 million, behind Webster Elementary.
Sources: WAFF, May 13, 2024; RocketCityNow, February 12, 2026 and May 2026; WAFF, February 21, 2026 (Sportsplex); ABC 3340, March 2026 and 256Today, March 2026 (Hadrian); Office of the Governor, May 19, 2026 (Virginia Transformer); WAFF, January 14, 2022 and Sound Crossings; WAFF, March 2, 2026 (school). Checked September 17, 2026. Sportsplex status rechecked, and the last three items added, October 16, 2026.
Here’s what I tell people about the Sportsplex. It’s real, the city has spent money on it, and it’s been through a fight. If someone tells you it’s opening next year, they’re guessing. I’ll update this page when the city puts a date on it.
What that means for your search
If the Sportsplex goes forward, the land around Sportsplex Drive and that stretch of 72 changes. More traffic on tournament weekends, plus the retail piece that was planned alongside it, if that happens. If you’re touring near there, ask me the current status on the day you look, because it moves.
Hadrian and Virginia Transformer are a different kind of thing. Two big employers planning on roughly a thousand jobs each, hiring from the whole area, is the sort of thing people bring up. I’m not going to predict what it does to any particular street, because nobody honestly knows. I’ll just say it’s a fact worth having in front of you.
How Muscle Shoals got here
Muscle Shoals was incorporated on April 24, 1923. Nobody knows for sure where the name came from. The usual theories are the mussel shells piled along the river shoals, a bend in the river shaped like an arm muscle, or how much muscle it took to paddle up through the rapids.
The city grew up around Wilson Dam. President Woodrow Wilson ordered the dam built in 1918 to power two World War I nitrate plants. After the war, Henry Ford offered $5 million for the unfinished project and talked about building a huge industrial city, which set off a short land boom, but Congress turned him down. The dam was finished in 1925 and later became part of TVA. It’s a National Historic Landmark today, 137 feet high and 4,541 feet long, and its main lock is the highest single lift lock east of the Rockies.
About 16,300 people lived in Muscle Shoals at the 2020 census.
Sources: City of Muscle Shoals, history; Encyclopedia of Alabama, Muscle Shoals; TVA, Wilson; U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts. Checked October 16, 2026.
Avalon Avenue and the studio
FAME Recording Studios is at 603 East Avalon Avenue. If you know one thing about Muscle Shoals, it’s probably that. The studio still operates and offers tours, so check with them directly for current hours.
What that means for a home search is mostly this: Avalon and the streets off it are a working neighborhood, not a museum district. Houses there get lived in. Same rule as anywhere. Drive it at the hour you’d actually be coming home.
Source: FAME Recording Studios, contact and location. Checked September 17, 2026.
The library, the parks, and the ordinary week
The city runs the Muscle Shoals City Library and a Parks and Recreation department with its own schedule of programs. When you’re figuring out whether a house works, run your actual week against it. Where the grocery run is, where you’d be on a Tuesday evening, how long the loop takes. A house that looks right on a map can feel wrong by the third week.
Sources: City of Muscle Shoals and Parks and Recreation. Checked September 17, 2026.
City services
City Hall is at 2010 East Avalon Avenue, 256-383-5675, and it also houses Pathways, a small museum on the city’s history and music. Billy Hudson was sworn in as mayor in November 2025.
Utilities come from three places, so you’ll set up more than one account. Electric is the Muscle Shoals Electric Board, 1015 Avalon Avenue, (256) 386-9290. Water and sewer are the Muscle Shoals Utilities Board, 2001 Wildwood Street, (256) 386-9260, and the drinking water comes from Wilson Lake. Natural gas is the North Alabama Gas District, (256) 383-3306.
Muscle Shoals City Schools runs its own system, with eight schools. Homes outside the city limits may be zoned for Colbert County Schools instead, so we check each address. For property taxes, my Shoals property tax guide has the Muscle Shoals rate and how the bill is figured.
Sources: City of Muscle Shoals; Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Pathways; TimesDaily, November 5, 2025 (mayor); Muscle Shoals Electric Board; Muscle Shoals Utilities Board; Shoals Chamber, North Alabama Gas District; Muscle Shoals City Schools. Checked October 16, 2026.
Getting around
Woodward Avenue is U.S. 43 and U.S. 72 through town. Wilson Dam Road carries State Route 133, which crosses into Florence on the Singing River Bridge at Patton Island, opened in 2002. The other way across is the O’Neal Bridge through Sheffield. Northwest Alabama Regional Airport is right here in Muscle Shoals. Contour Airlines flies to Charlotte and adds nonstop flights to Dallas Fort Worth starting November 12, 2026.
Sources: ALDOT News Hub, Muscle Shoals; Alabama State Route 133; AJOT, September 30, 2026. Checked October 16, 2026.
Where locals eat in Muscle Shoals
A few locally owned spots in Muscle Shoals, open as of September 2026. Hours change, so check before you go.
- OK Corral BBQ, 3106 Woodward Ave: family owned for more than 40 years, with slow cooked barbecue, chicken and ribs
- Donna & Friends Restaurant, 1325 Avalon Ave: home style Southern cooking, including catfish
- The Pie Factory, 3312 Woodward Ave: pizza and craft beer
Buying your first home here
You don’t need a finished wish list to call me. Most people who reach out have three things they’re sure about and a dozen they haven’t thought through yet, and that’s normal.
Start with a lender so you know your number. It takes about a day, and around here sellers generally won’t look seriously at an offer without it. You’re free to use any lender you want. I can give you several local names if you’d rather not start from scratch.
Alabama also has down payment help that a lot of first-time buyers here have never heard of. AHFA runs programs worth asking about, and USDA financing reaches a good bit of the ground outside the city limits. I’ll walk you through which ones your situation might touch. Program terms change, so we check current details rather than going off what was true last year.
When you’re ready
Send me the addresses you’re curious about and the questions you haven’t been able to get answered. That’s usually a better first conversation than a list of must-haves.
I’m Corey Bonds, a licensed Alabama real estate salesperson with MarMac Real Estate - The Shoals. I text back the same day, and there’s no pressure from me either way.