Jekyll Hotel Breaks Ground
Reprinted from The Brunswick News
By ANNA FERGUSON
With shovel in hand, C. Jones Hooks scooped up a mound of dirt Monday and tossed it into a vacant lot.
It was a momentous occasion. In about a year, the lot the new executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority was standing in will sprout the first new commercial structure to be built on Jekyll Island in three decades.
Hooks, authority board members and elected officials were gathered around what used to be the site of the now-torn down Holiday Inn on the south end of the island to celebrate the ground- breaking of the Hampton Inn, slated to open summer of 2009.
Known as the Jekyll Ocean Oaks project, the hotel is a joint effort among the Jekyll Island Club Hotel, the Jekyll Island Authority and Hampton Inn.
The groundbreaking was a long time coming, said Kevin Runner, general manager of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
“A lot of time and effort has gone into making this a reality,” Runner said. “This is a special day for Jekyll Island and the community.”
More than just a ground-breaking ceremony, the event marked the first step in the process of revitalizing the island, said Hooks. The hotel will be the first new structure on the island since the Holiday Inn was built in 1974.
The 138-room hotel also will be the only mid-priced hotel on the island and is intended to revive interest from state groups and associations, Hooks said.
“We need to attract Georgia conventions back to Jekyll Island,” he said. “We have had enough of Hilton Head, enough of Amelia Island. It is time to come back to Jekyll.”
The site of the new hotel is unique, said Dave Curtis, managing partner of Jekyll Ocean Oaks project. Located on more than 14 acres of beachside property and maritime forest, it will be a Hampton Inn like no other in the region.
Preserving the delicate natural landscape that surrounds the building is a top priority for the project leaders and has been a major reason why the development has taken so long to bring to fruition, Curtis said.
“This hotel will offer first class hospitality while accentuating the character of the area,” Curtis said.
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