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Beach businesses repairing for the start of spring break
December 28, 2004
Michael Stewart
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Spring break is a little more than three months away and Pensacola Beach business owners are struggling to repair damage by Hurricane Ivan before the tourism season begins.
So far, 18 out of roughly 120 beach businesses have reopened.
A construction crew works to get the Gulf Aire Motel back into shape Monday for the start of the spring tourist season on Pensacola Beach. The motel was heavily damaged during Hurricane Ivan.
Photo by Ben Twingley@PensacolaNewsJournal.com"We're hoping about a third of the businesses will be open by April 1," said Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce Director Sandy Johnston.
It could take more than a year for some business owners to rebuild. Storm surge destroyed all but two units at Clarion Suites Resort and Convention Center, for example.
Like many home owners throughout the two-county area, repairs to many Pensacola Beach businesses also are on hold until insurance claims are settled.
"All I wanted for Christmas was my insurance check," said Pensacola Beach businessman Fred Simmons, who owns or partners in two beach motels; the waterfront Paradise Bar & Grill; Geronimo's Spirits; a rental agency and a realty company. "I didn't know we had legalized gambling in Florida. Paying an insurance premium is like gambling because you don't know if you're going to get paid for damages."
Simmons has forged ahead, however. With no income, he is pinning his hopes on a Small Business Administration loan to keep him afloat and offset the $80,000 monthly payments on his various business interests.
His popular local hangout, the Paradise Bar & Grill, is open for business, and work has begun on the Gulf Aire Motel and the Sandpiper Inn, both of which Ivan filled with 5 feet of water. Simmons said he hopes renovations on the motels wrap up by late March or early April in time for spring break.
The motel space is needed. Johnston said phones are ringing off the hook already from people wanting to stay on the beach now or reserve rooms for next year.
So far, the Comfort Inn on Fort Pickens Road and the Hilton Garden Inn on Via de Luna are taking "RTs" -- real tourists -- an acronym that has popped up to differentiate between visitors and the many out-of-town workers staying at area hotels to repair storm damage.
Other beach hotels, such as the Hampton Inn and Springhill Suites, both on Via de Luna, likely won't reopen until the summer, beach officials said.
"We're actively engaged in preparing insurance claims to help everyone get operational," Santa Rosa Island Authority general manager Monte Blews said. "We are hoping we will have very good spring break season."
The news is not all bad. When the businesses reopen, some will be better. Both the Gulf Aire and Sandpiper Inn, which Simmons plans to combine into the Paradise Inn, are among the oldest motels on the beach. Simmons said he plans to install raised tongue-and-groove pine ceilings and retrofit the motels in a plush boutique motor lodge motif.
"It's going to be like something out of the past brought into the modern century," Simmons said.
©The Pensacola News Journal
December 28, 2004