The County Commission of Flagler County, Fla. is expected to vote at its meeting on Monday night, Feb. 2 on the proposal to build a $72 million lodge and conference center on the site of the former Hammock Beach golf lodge. Large groups of both supporters and opponents, each wearing different-colored shirts, are expected to be in attendance.
Flagler County officials expect dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of both supporters and opponents of a plan to build a 198-room resort on the site of the old Hammock Beach golf lodge to attend a hearing on Monday evening, February 2nd, at which the County Commission will vote on the proposal, the Palm Coast (Fla.) Observer reported.
The $72 million proposed lodge and conference center at the property would measure 171,000 sq. ft., with 198 guest rooms, a library, billiards room, bar and lounge, and more. C&RB reported in November on residents’ concern about what they consider to be overdevelopment as a result of the plan (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2014/11/21/residents-concerned-overdevelopment-club-hammock-beach/)
A group called Save The Hammock, which opposes the proposal, has instructed members to show up at the Commission’s meeting on February 2nd wearing light blue shirts, the Observer reported. The Flagler County Chamber, meanwhile, supports the proposal and has asked members to show up wearing white shirts.
County staff plan to open up additional space in the commission chamber room for the hearing, county spokesman Carl Laundrie said, and if needed, will direct attendees to overflow space on the second floor, the Observer reported. If that’s not enough, staff will open more space on the third floor, where attendees could watch the meeting on a 60-inch television screen. All together, that would allow the building to accommodate about 300 meeting attendees. If there are more, they will be directed to yet more overflow space in the nearby Emergency Operations Center.
The hearing on the Salamander proposal had originally been scheduled for Monday, January 12, but the commission postponed it to February 2 because Commissioner Charlie Ericksen had to miss the January 12 meeting for medical reasons, and because Salamander Hotels & Resorts, which has made the proposal, sent the county a revised site plan on Friday, January 9, leaving county staff insufficient time to review the proposed changes before the meeting that was scheduled for the 12th.
After the January 12th meeting, the Observer reported, Deputy County Administrator Sally Sherman said that the revised site plan eliminates some parking and shifts the entire building an additional 15 feet away from the ocean. The amended site plan is posted on the county website at flaglercounty.org.
A County Planning Director and a representative from Salamander will both give presentations at the February 2nd meeting, and there will be opportunities for public comment, the Observer reported.
Ericksen told a local television station on January 30th that he went into the hospital on January 27th for brain surgery, the Observer reported, and was not sure if he would be able to attend the February 2nd meeting. Ericksen he had asked the county if he could participate by phone, but had not yet received a reply.
If Ericksen is unable to participate in the meeting, there would be just four commissioners on the Board for the vote, and the measure would fail if the Board splits 2-2, the Observer reported.
Sylvia Whitehouse, an organizer for Save The Hammock, told the Observer that members of her group are concerned not only about the proposal itself, but also about a Salamander promotional video for the proposed Hammock Beach Resort (as well as the company’s Reunion Resort, in Orlando) that is produced in Chinese.
What appears to be an English version of the same video calls the properties “two extraordinary investment opportunities.”
“A lot of golf courses have been purchased recently by foreign investors,” Whitehouse said. “But this is Palm Coast. It’s not Daytona Beach, it’s not Palm Beach. We don’t want it to become a mecca of hotel development. It’s a nice, quiet area. There’s not one traffic signal.”
Salamander President Prem Devadas said the video, which comes from the developer’s website and hasn’t yet been released promotionally, was created to spur the investment that would help the company begin construction quickly, the Observer reported.
“We will raise investment in order to move forward and do the project under Salamander’s management,” Devadas said. “So we will not be selling the golf course to anybody, let alone Chinese investors. Should we gain the approvals [on February 2nd], we will immediately go out and start promoting, not only to U.S. investors but around the world.
“The Chinese video is one that’s been developed for investors in China,” Devadas added. “We’ll have the same videos that will be translated for other countries. It’s part of what we do in order to bring the project to fruition.”
Local real estate expert Toby Tobin, of gotoby.com, noted that companies seeking investors look at China, as well as other sources, “because that’s where the money is.”
“I wouldn’t be particularly concerned if there were Chinese investors anyway; you literally cannot find out who is behind a lot of these corporations,” Tobin told the Observer. “It’s clear to me that Salamander would remain as the operator; it’s exactly the kind of property that is in their portfolio.”
Tobin said he supports the Salamander proposal. “I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for our county,” he said. He noted that Salamander recently took on a run-down condo hotel — the Innisbrook Resort, near Tampa, which had some of the same problems as the Hammock Beach Resort — and turned it around.
“I’m impressed with Salamander,” he said. “I just really think that if we were to go out and ask, ‘What is the best kind of operator we could have here?’ I think you would describe Salamander. I think they’ve done a good job of stemming the blood flow, and now we’re ready to go on to the next level.”
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