HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Southeast


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #81  
Old Posted Jun 21, 2008, 4:37 AM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
The hockey team mess never goes away I guess. Owner wants out of ECHL, they are supposed to decide tonight what to do. Somehow P'cola could lose team in the end.

EDIT: I was going to post a link to WEAR-3 here. But they change link names as fast as new stories come up, so it would not be valid by morning (dumb way to do things).

So here is their main link and you can read a couple stories about it on there...

http://www.weartv.com/index.shtml



In other news: Having vigorously studied the trends of economic development and leadership for Pensacola over the past few months, I am in a unique position to unveil my conceptual drawing for how the Downtown Pensacola Skyline will look in the year 2024 with this highly technical photo-realistic computer rendering (all rights reserved of course):






The good news is we did manage to save one old big tree and note the person coming out of his tent to add to the "urban fabric" and streetlife. I also believe we will dye the water so it will continue to appear blue.

Last edited by Muskavon; Jun 21, 2008 at 6:03 AM. Reason: Hockey Link
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #82  
Old Posted Jun 23, 2008, 3:57 AM
BigBird9 BigBird9 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 667
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muskavon View Post






.
Haha, I don't think it will be that bad. I will be really ecited if those planned condo's downtown actually go up. It would make a huge impact on the skyline!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #83  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 1:34 AM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Solutia looks to put up for sale its Nylon division....

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...EWS01/80630035

Ok, read closely. “The nylon business is on a path for further growth and improvement in financial performance, and we believe strongly in the strategic course we have set for the business,”


Which means it is a viable business for anyone...errr...outside the US apparantly:

"The move comes largely as the result of mounting pressure from rising cost of raw materials".

Then...."Earlier this month, the company announced a $183 million deal with three Chinese manufacturers for several thousand tons of the company’s leading nylon product, Vydyne, a heat-resistent plastic used in automobiles and electronic components."

Anyone want to guess what is going to happen here? Bueller? Bueller?

Another 1,000 real jobs are gonna be gone in P'cola in 5 years from this alone. We are trying to get rid of the paper mill (China can make paper we need) and Armstrong (China can make floor coverings anyway) thru environmental litigation too. We just want to buy that stuff...not have jobs that earn money to buy it nor have the environmental damage as we are environmentalists (never mind the places we are shipping these processes off to allow toxic nuclear waste to be poured unfiltered into rivers (we close our eyes to that)....we are better off! So much better off. Like Native Americans. Living off the land and out of tent villages. What country will rediscover America? China this time and run us to reservations? Maybe we deserve it.

G'bye Solutia! G'bye the final manufacturing! It was nice while we had ya! But we are "above" all those silly economic needs.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #84  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 1:51 AM
DruidCity's Avatar
DruidCity DruidCity is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Tuscaloosa,AL
Posts: 3,381
Quote:
G'bye the final manufacturing! It was nice while we had ya! But we are "above" all those silly economic needs.
Does the state of Florida have a good incentive program to recruit and maintain manufacturing ?

For whatever reason, it seems manufacturing is on the rise in parts of Alabama and Mississippi. I'm not sure why Pensacola would be different ?
__________________
Also representing San Marcos,TX and Baldwin Co, AL
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #85  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 2:20 AM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Absolutely no. That is the sad part of being in the Panhandle and why I've always been happy when you guys suggest NW Florida should be part of Alabama. Florida, as you know, went thru a massive population change based first on climate, then industry followed it, then incentives were introduced to grow it to the monster it is, more population, and now it is a bit like a mature adult not waving money at anyone as the population gets absurd in South Florida. But there are a couple of problems: 1) those South Florida companies are starting to look elsewhere (like Bama) for places that still want them amid taxes and standards of living that slowly rise...but that is a bit like hostage taking IMO. 2) The REAL problem that makes me hate the state I'm in....the panhandle was/is always the slow growth part of the state (but not necessarily compared to Bama). We got nothing! We were and are the afterthought if there ever was a thought. And now the rush is over and they STILL don't see a need to help this depressed stepchild area grow economically. If anything, they are happy it didn't as they have some imaginary concept this area is still pristine. They don't want us, I don't know why they don't actively pursue giving this land to Bama.

In fact about 6 counties in South Florida threatened to secede a few months ago if they couldn't get MORE of state money thrown at them (we were getting too much in the hick arse country bumpkin northern counties where people probably still die of polio and too much Family Dollar exposure).

I'm totally convinced that had NW Florida been a part of Alabama since 1930, the whole dynamic would have changed. 1) More awesome Beaches for Bama..people in New Jersey would actually have a better idea that Bama has great beaches. It would be known all over the world. 2) International Airport somewhere between Mobile and P'cola. 3) The motivation/resources to grow this area rather than shun it like the scum of the state. 4) More North/South interstate access. 5) More expansion of real manufacturing and less expansion of fat lazy retired elitist hippies retiring on a beach that hate the common person who gets a perfectly good degree from UWF in favor of blight!

Last edited by Muskavon; Jul 1, 2008 at 2:32 AM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #86  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 3:04 AM
DruidCity's Avatar
DruidCity DruidCity is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Tuscaloosa,AL
Posts: 3,381
Any thoughts on the possibility of Perdido incorporating into its own town ?
http://www.incorporateperdido.org/incorporate.html
__________________
Also representing San Marcos,TX and Baldwin Co, AL
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #87  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 3:29 AM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Quote:
Originally Posted by DruidCity View Post
Any thoughts on the possibility of Perdido incorporating into its own town ?
http://www.incorporateperdido.org/incorporate.html
I lived on Perdido Key for 10 years as an adult. And I guess I'm for small groups governing themselves.

But here is what I don't like about that group and the groups before them (and beach groups in general)...they are made up of people who "discovered" a beach and want it to stay exactly as they found it to the detriment of all others on Earth. Basically, they are elitists. But hippies at the same time. However contrary that might seem. The beach is for them only once they find it. It must stay as "pristine", after they buy into a development, as they find it if they could raze a few dozen condos (that aren't theirs). But for a cause, man. So THEY can be stewards of a beach (with no scumbags allowed) and live a free life dude.

They aren't the problem! NEVER! We are!


I pretty much hate them as you can tell. These are the folks that stall (forever) a reasonable 4-lane road from Orange Beach to Pensacola. They were there when I was a little kid. The "I found this and I deserve to spoil this with my giant house....but you all suck...go away!!!!" concept. "I'm even better than an American Indian"!!!!!!

They hate the concept that masses would want to live on a beach. Only they shoukd have had that thought. They hate developers for giving in to beach goers. Only they had an excuse to increase developer need and buy beach property. They are the worst of the worst to me. I hope they don't get their own government. I wouldn't be surprised if Perdido Key became another Ono Island. Not that I have a problem with Ono Island...that works. These fascists don't. I've told them openly I hope someone builds a 70-floor condo wall on the rest of the land to block their view.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #88  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 3:33 AM
pkp's Avatar
pkp pkp is offline
<- My idol
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Mobile
Posts: 1,563
Quote:
Originally Posted by DruidCity View Post
Does the state of Florida have a good incentive program to recruit and maintain manufacturing ?

For whatever reason, it seems manufacturing is on the rise in parts of Alabama and Mississippi. I'm not sure why Pensacola would be different ?
Because of the rise in cost of trans-pacific shipping and advances in automation, the plants that were left in the Mobile area are actually doing great business (chemicals, some textiles, etc... - think Axis and Theodore). Many of these location have been turned into production centers for the "Americas" - basically the Western Hemisphere. A shipping container heading from China now costs about $6,500 to get here as opposed to $3,000 or less a couple of years ago (remember nearly all of this product goes by boat to the West Coat, then on rail to the South or Midwest then several hundred miles by truck). It is actually offsetting some of the labor savings in China. Couple that with a weak $, a "kind of" floating RMB (up 30% since China's entry in the WTO), increasing wages in China, and a high demand from developing LatAm and it positions the Gulf Coast as a great location for servicing Brazil to Canada.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #89  
Old Posted Jul 1, 2008, 3:45 AM
DruidCity's Avatar
DruidCity DruidCity is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Tuscaloosa,AL
Posts: 3,381
Quote:
But here is what I don't like about that group and the groups before them (and beach groups in general)...they are made up of people who "discovered" a beach and want it to stay exactly as they found it to the detriment of all others on Earth. Basically, they are elitists.
Man, that's the truth. I've run into the same problem in Gulf Shores.
After the center of town there was vacant for a few years (developer had flattened existing restaurants, shops, and amusements during the "boom" period with plans to put a condo there, then the "bust" hit and the center of town was fenced off for like 4 or 5 years), a big, new restaurant opened
this spring. Instead of being happy about having families and tourists returning to Gulf Shores and enjoying it, some of the bitter old residents who don't even live that close got pissed over the "noise" and the "tourists," arguing that it should've been left undeveloped and that everything in town should be reserved for "locals." Of course, if the beach needs renourishing or the roads need to be repaved or so on, those same "locals" will be first in line asking the state and the tourists for money to pay for it.
__________________
Also representing San Marcos,TX and Baldwin Co, AL
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #90  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 7:49 PM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Mobile leader gives advice to Pensacola on how to develop the area (can we not borrow Mobile's leaders for about 7 years? Or just share?)....

http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=8160

News: Advice For Mobile-like Progress

by Duwayne Escobedo

Stephen Nodine says despite being the Mobile County Commission president, he prides himself in keeping up with Pensacola.

"I spend a lot of time in Pensacola and I love it," he says. "I watch you guys over there."

Nodine has some advice for Pensacola to kick its lagging economy into high gear. He knows a little bit about the subject as part of Mobiles efforts on the $40 billion Air Force tanker deal with Northrop Grumman-EADS and the $3.7 billion steel plant deal with Thyssenkrupp AG.

His recommendations include building the Community Maritime Park on Pensacolas downtown waterfront ASAP, developing Saufley Field into a industrial park much like Mobiles Brookley Field, lifting building caps and other obstacles to first-class development of the beaches, closing the citys 50-acre port and establishing teamwork between state, local, county and city governments to create economic incentives and to fix the taxing system to make companies want to come to the area.

And Nodine advocates teamwork on economic development. "The Panhandle tends to get neglected compared to the rest of the state," he says. "You need Gov. (Charlie) Crist and the rest of your state leaders to stand up and support the Panhandle and to start investing in it."

Nodine adds: "(Northwest Florida counties) have all the potential in the world. Its leadership first and foremost. You have to have leadership that is forward thinking and all entities, your counties, cities, chambers, businesses, have to work together."
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #91  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2008, 8:02 PM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Here is another Independent News article regarding the situation for most of the formerly planned condos in the downtown area.

http://www.inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=8141

I'm not sure what the rules are about copying/pasting these articles like I did above so I figure I should stop till I find out more. But basically the article relays the bad news that pretty much all are at least on hold till the market turns around. Still, I was at least happy to know a few of the people involved are at least still looking forward to that day getting here rather than just giving up. One architect firm in the article mentions it has several hotels in the works (hmmmm?) and maybe they can help drive other demand if they get off the ground.

EDIT:

I might as well throw in the article from the PNJ regarding a new upscale restaurant and yacht club going in at the foot of the toll bridge (where Boy On A Dolphin) used to be. Looks pretty nice.

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...NTPAGECAROUSEL

Last edited by Muskavon; Jul 3, 2008 at 8:21 PM. Reason: adding info rather than starting new post
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #92  
Old Posted Jul 22, 2008, 4:01 PM
fvcrew22's Avatar
fvcrew22 fvcrew22 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Gulf Breeze, Fl.
Posts: 179
Five Flags Inn will be rebuilt as Best Western
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

Slowly but surely, Pensacola Beach is shaking off the residue of Hurricane Ivan. More than four years after the storm rolled ashore, demolishing structures that withstood storms for over 40 years, a Pensacola Beach landmark will be resurrected in a new form.

The Five Flags Inn, which was originally built on Pensacola Beach in 1965 offered 49 gulf front rooms and a 50 x 25 foot pool. The family friendly motel attracted recurring visitors who brought steaks, chicken and hot dogs to grill poolside as the sun was setting.

"It was a big party," owner Baker Clark said. "Everybody had a grill and I had to eat some of everybody's or they'd be mad at me," he remembers.

Before the storm, grandparents, kids and grandkids were frequent visitors at the Five Flags Inn, enjoying a family vacation tradition since 1965.

Seeing the devastation after Hurricane Ivan was "a sad day, it really was," Clark said.

Since Ivan destroyed the motel, Clark and his brother-in-law partner, Mal Williams, wavered about whether to rebuild or sell the property. But now, Clark and Williams are now coming back to the beach with a new concept that continues to exude the family friendly, Gulf front ambiance in a modern format.

The plan calls for an eight-story building carrying the Best Western flag with 105 Gulf-front rooms . Each room will have a balcony.
Hotel amenities will include a pool, inside and outside bars, fitness center, breakfast area and business center. Surface parking will accommodate visitors.


If everything goes according to plan, construction will begin in early 2009 and the Best Western Five Flags Inn will open to guests in Spring of 2010. The Best Western worldwide reservation system will help keep the motel booked in the wintertime, Clark said.
This news will probably relieve the "tons" of people who asked the owners to rebuild the Five Flags Inn, either in person or on the answering system on the motel's original phone number, which the owners have kept active for the past four years.

The new motel will keep many of the features of the original motel, but the updates will be apparent.

"I have mixed emotions about it," Clark said, "But people have told me they know it can't be like it was."


Article: http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2..._news/064.html

And yes, this really is the drawing that was in the paper.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #93  
Old Posted Aug 6, 2008, 7:44 PM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Here's something I hadn't seen regarding I-10 widening (Big Bird and I were talking about "wish list" exactly the stuff covered in this FDOT webpage:

http://www.i10reevaluations.com/


"The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has contracted with PBS&J to perform project reevaluations of two prior Project Development & Environment (PD&E) studies. The purpose of a project reevaluation is to verify that the results of the previously conducted study are in compliance with current applicable federal and state laws before the project moves into the production phase. Also reevaluations serve as a check on the commitments made by FDOT during the original studies. The reevaluation process is the only instrument available to fully document compliance with federal laws and any changes that may have occurred on a project since the approval of the original recommendations.


Following review of the reevaluation by FDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the reevaluations will be revised for final review and acceptance by FDOT and FHWA. The reevaluations are expected to be completed in late summer 2008.




The first reevaluation will be based on the original PD&E study for I-10/I-110 in Escambia County, which was completed in May 2000. This reevaluation will consider design changes necessary for the widening of I-10 to six lanes from east of Davis Highway to the Escambia Bay Bridge. This reevaluation will also consider any changes to the I-10/Scenic Highway interchange, beyond those identified in the original I-10/I-110 PD&E Study, and will provide an updated assessment of a potential new interchange at 9th Avenue and I-10.




The second reevaluation will consider any changes since the Escambia Bay Bridge Replacement PD&E study approved in 2005 for the emergency replacement of the Escambia Bay Bridge and the widening of I-10 to six lanes on the bridge. Conceptual designs will also be developed for proposed improvements; specifically, widening I-10 to six lanes to east of the Avalon Boulevard interchange in Santa Rosa County and any necessary interchange modifications at Avalon Boulevard."


So basically the possibility of going ahead with 6-lanes all the way to Avalon Blvd and considering a 9th Avenue exit yet again. But check the "FAQ" button up top of the website to see this is merely an evaluation and only the start of the start of the start of ever actually doing any of this.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #94  
Old Posted Aug 10, 2008, 12:14 PM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
11 Story Hotel starting on P-Beach....

Innisfree Hotels is expected to break ground in October on a 206-room, $60 million upscale Holiday Inn on Pensacola Beach.


"It's for real," said developer Julian MacQueen, whose company also owns and manages the Hilton Hotel and Hampton Inn on Pensacola Beach. "I have seven-eighths of the financing done, and I've got several options for the remaining eighth."

The proposed hotel will be situated on a vacant 4-acre Gulf-front site immediately east of the Hilton.

MacQueen said Innisfree has an agreement with McCrory Building Co. of Birmingham, Ala., to construct the 11-story tower. McCrory was the general contractor for the recent tower addition to the Hilton Hotel.

Excavation already has begun at the site, MacQueen said. Construction is expected to take 14 months, with the goal of opening the hotel in the spring of 2010.

"We're thrilled to death," said Buck Lee, executive director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority. "We're just excited that Pensacola Beach's hotels are coming back. And we're pleased Julian's company is bringing in another 206 rooms. Everything he's built up to now has been very high quality."

'Give me more rooms'
Sandy Johnston, executive director of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce, said Innisfree's proposed hotel will get Pensacola Beach back "very close" to the number of rooms available before Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004.

"Give me more rooms. We really need them,'' she said. "Several weekends this summer we've been booked out on Pensacola Beach and had to find vacationers rooms elsewhere."

Richard Chism, Innisfree's director of development, said the hotel will complement the company's existing beach hotels.

"Pensacola Beach is a destination that attracts families, and not every family can afford to stay at the Hilton,'' he said. "This new hotel will have price points that are affordable."

The work ahead
All necessary environmental and zoning permits have been obtained as well as a development order from Escambia County, MacQueen said.

The next steps will be submitting final design plans to the county and issuance of a building permit.

Intercontinental Hotel Group, which owns the Holiday Inn chain, announced last October it was embarking on a $1 billion brand upgrade that includes a new design.

Innisfree's proposed hotel will incorporate many of the new features while maintaining a distinctive design of its own, MacQueen said.

"Everything has changed, from Holiday Inn's trademark signage to the requirements for contemporary interior design," said Christian Mills, Innisfree Hotels' project manager for the new hotel.

The main floor will have an expansive lobby, a restaurant and an outdoor dining patio.

The second floor will have more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 3,000-square-foot balcony overlooking the pool deck and the Gulf of Mexico, and a fitness center with views of the Gulf.

"With the addition of Holiday Inn, Innisfree Hotels will be able to offer 660 hotel rooms on Pensacola Beach with more than 45,000 square feet of meeting space among the three adjoining hotels," said Jeff Townsend, president of Innisfree Development.

Lee said the lack of meeting space on the island has hurt business in the past.

"Another 206 rooms and 10,000 square feet of meeting space will allow us to host much larger groups and conventions on the beach," he said.

Additional amenities
One of the most distinctive features of the proposed hotel will be the half-acre Gulf-front pool area, MacQueen said.

"It will be bigger than the Hilton's pool," he said.

Innisfree has contracted with Chad Watkins of WAS Design in Gulf Shores, Ala., to design the hotel's pool and landscape, Townsend said.

"The guests will enjoy great amenities — a pool bar with sunrise and sunset views across the Gulf, a lazy river quietly meandering through to a beach-entry swimming pool, and an interactive sprayground for kids of all ages," Watkins said.

Once the Holiday Inn is completed, MacQueen said he wants to continue enhancing the core area of Pensacola Beach.

Innisfree plans to develop its 21 total acres of beachfront and sound-side property with an additional 400 hotel rooms as the market demands.

"We have more property across the street from the Hilton that will be developed into a mixed-use resort with hotel rooms, shops, restaurants and a marina," MacQueen said.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #95  
Old Posted Aug 10, 2008, 12:16 PM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Hopefully, a 20-story hotel/condo is gonna go up near this in the near future. But it has been a couple months since I heard anything on it (and you know these things come and go more fluid than water).
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #96  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2008, 2:43 AM
BigBird9 BigBird9 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 667
Good find with the articles. Hopefully they will widen I-10 to six lanes. It should be six lanes from Pine Forest to Avalon Blvd. And a 9th. Avenue exit would be tremendous. The Bayou and Davis exits are overwhelmed with traffic now, and with the new Airport and potential 9th exit, it will help those traffic problems dramatically. Of course, all of that is way down the road, but at least they're doing something. Speaking of roads... has anyone seen the Blue Angel toys that are used as decorations at the I-10/I-110 interchange? Those things are the dumbest freeway decorations I've ever seen. It was looking pretty nice, and then they decided to glue toy airplanes to the freeway pavilions.

A new hotel on P'cola Beach sounds great. That area is looking pretty good now, and I think of the potential that area has every time I'm down there. Such beautiful beaches, and just a few changes within the city would turn it into a world class vacation destination.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #97  
Old Posted Aug 12, 2008, 10:08 PM
fvcrew22's Avatar
fvcrew22 fvcrew22 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Gulf Breeze, Fl.
Posts: 179
Well, some more good news.. Only 2 days after the Holiday Inn annoucement, there is another hotel to break ground next month on Pensacola Beach.

Little Sabine announces new beach hotel plans
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • August 12, 2008

Just days after Innisfree Hotels announced plans to build a $60 million Holiday Inn on Pensacola Beach, a spokesman for Little Sabine, Inc., a division of Pensacola-based American Fidelity, says it will break ground in September on a 162-room Indigo Hotel.

Site of the proposed hotel will be on a portion of the 26-acre old Holiday Inn site on Pensacola Beach
, property owned by American Fidelity and the Woodbury family, according to Joe McCay, general manager of Crowne Plaza Pensacola Grand and spokesman for Little Sabine, Inc.

Total construction costs were not revealed, but are expected to approach $50 million.

The Pensacola-based Morette Company has been hired to build the hotel.

Architects for the project are the Adache Group, which also designed Portofino towers.

Construction is expected to take about 18 months, with the hotel ready for occupancy in the spring of 2010.

Indigo is a new and upscale brand of InterContinental Hotels, which also owns Holiday Inn.



Link:
http://pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS01/80812014
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #98  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2008, 4:37 AM
BigBird9 BigBird9 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 667
Great news!
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #99  
Old Posted Aug 13, 2008, 2:28 PM
fvcrew22's Avatar
fvcrew22 fvcrew22 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Gulf Breeze, Fl.
Posts: 179
Definitely great news, and not to seem repetitive but the News Journal has a more detailed article in the paper today about this one with a rendering.


Another hotel planned for beach core
Carlton Proctor • cproctor@pnj.com • August 13, 2008

Little Sabine Inc. will start construction next month on a 162-room Indigo Hotel on a portion of its 26-acre property on the Gulf of Mexico.

The announcement comes just three days after hotel developer Julian MacQueen said he would start building a $60 million, 206-room Holiday Inn on Pensacola Beach in October.

"We will break ground the first week of September," said Joe McCay, spokesman for Little Sabine, a division of American Fidelity Life Insurance. "We've hired the Morette Company as contractor, and we have all the permitting in place."

The hotel is expected to be ready for guests in the spring of 2010, said Buck Lee, general manager of the Santa Rosa Island Authority.

Lee said the Little Sabine plan is "more great news for Pensacola Beach."

"The design looks fantastic," Lee said, "and it's my understanding it will be the first of three hotels, with a total of 485 rooms, that they plan to build on their 26-acre site."
Indigo hotels are a brand franchise developed by IHG, parent company of Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental.

The Indigo Pensacola Beach will be only the ninth hotel built under that brand, and the first exclusively on the Gulf of Mexico, McCay said.

The nine-story Indigo will be the first hotel in a three-phase development of the Little Sabine's site, formerly home to the old Holiday Inn, razed after sustaining heavy damage from Hurricane Ivan.

Construction costs were not disclosed by developers, but are expected to approach $50 million.

Coupled with Innisfree's proposed 206 Holiday Inn rooms, the two projects will be a huge shot in the arm for Santa Rosa Island, said Sandy Johnston, executive director of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce.

"It's just what the doctor ordered," she said.

Johnston also noted that before Hurricane Ivan, Pensacola Beach had 946 hotel and motel rooms.

After Ivan, the beach lost nearly half of those rooms, but has built that inventory back to 929 rooms.

When Indigo's 162 and Holiday Inn's 206 rooms come on line in spring 2010, Pensacola Beach will have a total of 1,297 rooms, a 37 percent increase over pre-Ivan numbers, Johnston said.

Indigo room sizes will average 498 square feet, and the hotel will have a restaurant and lounge, in addition to 3,000 square feet of meeting space.

The hotel also will have a rooftop swimming pool, and underground parking, McCay said.

"Indigo is a boutique hotel," McCay said. "The color schemes and furnishings will be very different from anything at Pensacola Beach. ... Every season, the color schemes will change in the hotel."

Architects for the project are the Adache Group, the Fort Lauderdale firm that designed Portofino Towers on Pensacola Beach.


Link: http://pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...NTPAGECAROUSEL

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #100  
Old Posted Aug 16, 2008, 12:42 AM
Muskavon Muskavon is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 451
Since I got interested in the topic of annexations with Mobile last night, I stumbled onto a really interesting outdated and never-acted-on-since (what is new here?) document from the City of Pensacola’s website this evening dated June 7, 2007.

http://www.cityofpensacola.com/uploa...06-11-2007.pdf

It was an extremely ambitious plan to annex all kinds of clumps of property in every direction other than gulf waters. Several reasons it was very needed: 1) Pensacola has a crapload of properties that are half in and half out the city. The meandering boundaries make absolutely no sense and cause great confusion. 2) The meandering obviously causes a lot of waste of duplicate or competing or disputed services. 3) It’s not like these people aren’t part of this city…get real folks. Why the wasteful overlap? 4) Why blame two inept groups of leaders for the path Pensacola is on when you can blame one inept commission?

Why it hasn’t been acted upon and will never happen despite spending a bunch to figure this out: 1) See above, weak & inept leaders worried more about themselves and their own interests than the good of Pensacola’s future (there are no Steven Nodine’s over here to champion growth and economic development outside lip-service…they won’t take the hard stances required to make that happen). 2) Florida has very tough annexation laws as people nearby “affected” get to vote even if they don’t live in the area, If I understand it right (which was my beef in the Mobile thread). To truly pursue this is probably political suicide…which goes back to our weak leaders who can’t make a case…or even try publicly.

Why did we spend money on this plan? Just to tempt me and piss me off?

Personally, I think everything south of 10 Mile Road (east and west in Escambia, including Perdido Key) should be the Pensacola city limits. That’s clear and concise boundaries with the option to spread northward as development demands. I’m not sure what that’d do population-wise…but probably push Pensacola from a jokingly pathetic unrepresentative 55,000 to 200,000 or so. Maybe much more. That simple number on paper would probably change perspectives of this city on a national level in ways we couldn’t fathom. Yes, it is just pushing numbers around like a bean counter….but when that number showed up on lists…I don’t know…I think it’d really change the “league” this city is expected to play in. This isn’t a sister city with Milton in small town church community rivalry. But you wouldn’t know it on paper. You’d dismiss it as another one red light town in a great series of them on Florida I-10 heading eastward till you get to Tallahassee (which funny enough has way less MSA population…but you’d never guess it if you didn’t know .

Here is the Pensacola Independent News article of this annexation plan back when it was "new" news. Note that Wiggins has fallen silent on this issue ever since this bravado:

http://inweekly.net/article.asp?artID=4955
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Southeast
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 7:32 AM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.