The Real New Orange Beach Isn't on the Beach. It's on Russian Road.
September 3, 2026
September 3, 2026
Most of what gets written about Orange Beach happens within sight of the water. A restaurant opens at The Wharf, a tower goes up on Perdido Beach Boulevard, a boat gets sunk offshore for divers. That's the corridor with the view, so that's the corridor that makes the news.
Russian Road doesn't have a view. It runs inland off the Beach Express, past Baldwin EMC and the city's public works yard, and until this year it wasn't a stretch anyone drove down unless they had a reason. Now it has two. In less than a year, the city has opened a new recycling center and a full shooting range on that same short stretch of pavement. A third project, a $2.95 million rebuild of the Boggy Point boat launch out at Perdido Pass, is landing on a different part of town at the same time. None of it is glamorous. All of it is real money, and together the three projects say something about where Orange Beach is actually spending, as opposed to where it's building.
On July 23, 2026, the Solid Waste Disposal Authority of Baldwin County opened its newest Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials, or CHaRM, at 22510 Russian Road, tucked behind Baldwin EMC and Orange Beach Public Works. It's the third CHaRM location SWDA has built since it opened its first one in Fairhope in August 2025, and it's the largest of the three, sitting on 1.25 acres with 47,538 square feet of space.
The facility exists for the stuff your curbside bin won't take. Glass, electronics, batteries, paint, household hazardous waste. Common recyclables like aluminum cans, cardboard, mixed paper, and plastics numbered 1 through 7 go in free, no appointment required. A handling fee applies to a shorter list: paint and household hazardous waste run $2 per gallon, car batteries are $2 each, propane tanks and fire extinguishers are $4 each, and electronics like TVs and laptops are $5 per unit. Tires, mattresses, construction debris, furniture, and anything medical or biohazardous still aren't accepted anywhere in the system. Hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon, and both residents and visitors can use it.
Construction was partially funded by a $1,500,224 grant from the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, the federal program that channels offshore energy royalties back into coastal infrastructure. SWDA CEO Terri Graham framed the opening as part of a longer trajectory rather than a one-off ribbon cutting.
"As Baldwin County continues to grow, we must continue to invest in infrastructure that supports both our residents and our environment. The Orange Beach CHaRM makes recycling more accessible, keeps reusable materials in circulation, and protects the natural assets that make our community such a special place to live."
Orange Beach's own Director of Coastal Resources, Phillip West, tied the project directly to the beach itself, calling it another way for residents and visitors to help keep the city's beaches, waterways, and neighborhoods clean. Since the first CHaRM opened a year earlier, the three-location system has already served close to 20,000 customers and processed more than 26,000 items that would otherwise have gone to a landfill or sat in a garage. That's not a small pilot program. That's a county building out permanent capacity, and Orange Beach just got the biggest piece of it.
Boggy Point Boat Launch sits at the end of Marina Road off Highway 161, the ramp closest to the Perdido Pass Bridge and the main channel out to the Gulf, a few miles from the Russian Road cluster and built for the same kind of resident rather than a visitor loading a rental car. The city's own website currently lists a headline announcing $2.95 million in state-administered renovations coming to the launch, a figure that puts real weight behind a facility that's used daily by anglers and boaters who never think about who maintains the piers under their trailer tires.
Boggy Point has been through this before. The Alabama Marine Resources Division rebuilt its finger piers back in 2019 after inspectors found the pilings from the original 2006 construction were nearing the end of their usable life. A $2.95 million commitment now is a different order of investment, and it says the state and city aren't treating boating access as a fixed asset you build once and forget. It's infrastructure that gets reinvested in on a schedule, the same way a bridge or a water line does, and Orange Beach residents who launch from Boggy Point are the ones who'll feel the difference the next time they back a trailer down the ramp.
Just up Russian Road from the new recycling center, at 23172 Russian Road, the Orange Beach Shooting Complex opened to the public on August 21, 2025, drawing more than a hundred people to a ceremony that skipped the ribbon cutting in favor of the State Champion Shooting Team hitting powder-filled clay targets. The complex currently has five skeet and trap fields, with a rifle range planned for later phases, and it's open Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Non-members pay $15 a round, members pay $12, and first-timers pay a $2.50 card fee on top of that. It's separate from the police department's handgun-only pistol range at 25111 Russian Road, which still runs every other Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for anyone who wants a shorter drive and a smaller caliber.
Orange Beach High School Shooting Team Coach Tim Harry summed up the opening in five words that have aged well: build it and they will come. The team's coach, Matt Parker, described plans for the site's eventual 80 acres to include a clubhouse with porches where people can watch or shoot, positioning the complex as a long-term recreational anchor rather than a single field day project. A year later, it's still the only facility of its kind for miles, and it was the first of what's become three separate resident-facing investments landing across town in the same stretch of time.
None of these three projects individually would be worth much of a headline. Together, they say something the beachfront corridor doesn't say on its own: Orange Beach is putting meaningful public dollars into recreation and infrastructure that has nothing to do with hotel rooms, dining seats, or condo inventory. A recycling center doesn't attract a single overnight visitor. A boat ramp renovation doesn't show up on a vacation rental listing. A skeet and trap facility isn't competing with the beach for anyone's Saturday. These are amenities built for the people who already live here, sized for daily use rather than peak season, and landing in corners of town most residents have had no reason to visit until now.
If you live in Orange Beach and haven't been out to Russian Road or Boggy Point lately, here's what's waiting:
Russian Road went from a stretch nobody drove down to one with two resident-only amenities in less than a year. Boggy Point already had a reason to visit, a free public ramp anglers and boaters use every week, and now it's getting a $2.95 million rebuild to keep working for another few decades. None of it is beachfront, and all of it is where the city chose to put its money this year. That pattern is worth watching, because it usually says more about where a city is headed than whatever just opened at the beach.
If you're weighing what any of this means for property values, rental demand, or timing a move in Orange Beach, that's a conversation Vince Burchfield has every week. Let's Connect.
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
Get assistance in determining current property value, crafting a competitive offer, writing and negotiating a contract, and much more. Contact me today to discuss all your real estate needs!