This May, a 5,500-square-foot piece of donated, local history could be hauled half a mile east on U.S. Highway 98 and reassembled as the city’s first official welcome center.
That’s the proposal for the 111-year-old Gulfview Hotel building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and stands at 12 Miracle Strip Parkway SE. The City Council Tuesday plans to consider whether to approve an agreement among the building’s owners, the city and the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce to relocate the structure and convert it into the FWB Welcome Center.
With the council’s approval, the city and chamber would join forces to pay an estimated $300,000 to relocate and set up the structure in its new spot and restore the existing building site after the move. The total price tab would include the cost of the temporary relocation of power lines and traffic lights so the structure can be moved down the road.
The two-story, wood-framed building might be moved along via a remote-controlled apparatus consisting of I-beams on wheels, City Manager Michael Beedie said Monday.
The building’s proposed new home is on the northwest corner of Florida Place and Miracle Strip Parkway, at the former site of Joe & Eddies Family Restaurant. The city paid about $7,000 for this 0.85-acre site more than a year ago, after Joe & Eddies moved to a new spot and the old restaurant was demolished. Beedie said the city has been using the vacant site for overflow parking during major events.
The relocation of the building would benefit the city in two ways, he said.
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