THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
MHS SOCCER PAGE 11 FREE • JANUARY 2020
VOLUME 4, NO. 7
ECONOMIC RECKONING County Commission disbands Department of Economic Opportunity.
SOLD!
Hammock Beach Resort gets new owner and new management companies.
JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
County commissioners voted 3-1 on Jan. 13 to disband the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity and Economic Opportunity Advisory Council, and to replace the department with a single employee who will coordinate economic development. Commissioner Greg Hansen was the sole vote against the proposal, calling it rushed. Commissioner Charlie Ericksen — the only member of the commission who was on the board in 2011, when the Department of Economic Opportunity and Economic Opportunity Advisory Council were formed — was absent. The decision came after County Commissioner Donald O’Brien, reading a prepared statement at the end of the meeting, said he believed it was time to restructure the county’s Department of Economic Opportunity, which he said costs more than neighboring counties’ while having a “continuing lack of any significant result.” “I’m convinced we need to simplify our economic development process,” he said. “We should just have one person on staff that is responsible for economic activities.” The department’s budget is over $500,000, he noted, while St. Johns County — which has a population of over 243,000 people, much more than Flagler’s approximately 110,000 — is spending about $443,000, and Clay County, with a population
Aimbridge Hospitality will manage Hammock Beach Resort, Troon the golf club.
BRIAN MCMILLAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Hammock Beach Resort has been sold by Lubert-Adler to KDG Capital, and two industry-leading companies have been hired to take over operations of the resort and the golf club. Is a new hotel next? “The owner has promised to build a hotel, and that’ll bring many jobs to our county, and also put us as a higher place in people’s minds as a destination,”
said Greg Hansen, Flagler County commissioner. “I really think it’s going to be great for the county, great for tourism. ... The two golf courses are beautiful — they’re enough of an attraction — but throw a hotel in there, too. We want that whole north Hammock area to be developed.” Hansen noted that there is also a chance of a hotel being built in Marineland. “I think it’s a start,” he said. KDG’s owner “has visions of a multimillion-dollar renova-
Courtesy photo
tion that could make the property worthy of a five-star flag,” according to a story in the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The sale of the resort for $18 million was first reported by gotoby.com. Aimbridge Hospitality, which says it’s the world’s leading thirdparty hotel management company, will now manage the resort’s nine food and beverage establishments, according to a press SEE HAMMOCK PAGE 5
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FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE
INSIDE
Back in the biz The former co-owners of the Tuscan Grille now ply their trade across from the Flagler Pier.
ONLINE More photos at
PalmCoastObserver.com
Photos by Paola Rodriguez
Paul Lever, Ryanne Gouveia and Ken Ponsier, at First Friday, in Flagler Beach, a monthly tradition.
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