Apparently the 192 acre campus of Birmingham Southern College has been purchased by the Coast Guard as the site of the new training center.
Thanks to Laura for bringing this to my attention.
Bill Battle Coliseum at Birmingham-Southern College. 6 December 2013. Credit: Cdog91
Photos below were found here: they were taken at least eight years ago.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
Looks like they had 900 some students when it was operating, with student housing for about 800 students if my math is correct and at 192 acres it is a scenic campus
192 acres is almost three times the size of Coast Guard Island (67 acres) Alameda, CA.
I thought the Coast Guard was a Maritime Service, with a campus so far inland, how will they conduct small boat orientation? Okay, the Cahaba River, so River Rat Coasties, with a course on how to knock down weeds around day-boards and lights, and avoid Water Moccasins? 😉
Back in November the following requirements were identified:
Lodging for 1,200 recruits.
A dining facility capable of seating 400 personnel.
A medical facility to support 1,000 personnel (a minimum of 200 medical encounters and 200 dental encounters per day).
14 classrooms sized to accommodate 30-60 students.
An auditorium with a capacity of 500-plus students.
A pool with six lanes, 25 yards in length, and a minimum depth of 4 feet.
A multipurpose gymnasium/athletic/sports facility suitable for sitting 1,200 personnel.
Office space for 400 staff members.
A land area of 150-250 acres.
Proximity to a small commercial service or larger airport within 30 miles.
I do wonder how long renovations will take. As it should be remembered that the school was in serious financial trouble when it closed. So it should be expected that general upkeep was likely underfunded for some time. The facilities have also been empty nearly two years so some significant deterioration can have taken place
I have added some photographs of the campus to the post. Looks like it has a lot of potential and includes a lot of the things needed for the new training center.
The college had a successful, men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams.
I’m surprised no one has asked about access to water and boats. Both Alameda and Cape May had direct water access. Have they skipped that part of training now?
Considering the size of the property I would imagine some of the schools could be relocated there as well as other facilities.
They have a small lake but no access to the Sea.
As a native of Birmingham and one who visits there once or twice a year, I have to say that the campus is not located in one of the safest part of the city. While they may be able to locate an indoor shooting range for pistol qualifications, a site for an outdoor range escapes me since the campus is in a residential area. I echo the points about small boat training and underfunded maintenance of facilities. Given the cost today of water/ocean front or adjacent property, inland may be the best bang for the buck.
https://www.keen-summit.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Map.pdf
This link is campus map in pdf. I am told campus is all good condition. So much is in place. This is a good deal for CG, hope they don’t mess it up. Air Force , Navy bases nearby. Space Force is on the way.
Also facility/locale is well suited to build bridge, deck and engineering simulators – more efficient and effective for early introduction and training, with expanded difficulty potential for intermediate and advanced scenario training.
Boot camp Alameda, 1978 – 40 recruits spent all of 1 afternoon aboard what might have been a 60 footer. So really, how close to the Gulf do recruits need to be?
Cape May in ’88 we did one night aboard a Cape class 95 footer that had additional racks added. Other than beach runs, we really didn’t do much outside water activates, more time in the pool than anything. Two Rock/Petaluma is landlocked (except when the Russian River floods) and it’s been just fine for A schools.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2026/03/05/coast-guard-bidding-process-new-facility-was-formality-lawmaker.html?ESRC=coastguard_260311.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=coastguard&utm_campaign=20260311