Amber Isle plans resurrected in Orange Beach

Originally Published by the Mobile Press Register

Link: http://www.al.com/news/press-register/baldwin.ssf?/base/news/1250154918189230.xml&coll=3


Latest incarnation of project calls for 383 hotel units next to Gulf State Park

Thursday, August 13, 2009

By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — Retooled plans for the Amber Isle resort project, which has lingered unbuilt for more than five years, have been filed and city officials say they expect the developers to ask for, but likely not receive, tax breaks to get the project built.

First proposed in late 2003 as a 12-story, 110-room Holiday Inn and a pair of low-rise buildings with retail space and 96 condominiums, the Amber Isle project sits on the north side of Ala. 182 at the westernmost edge of town. The project borders the Gulf State Park and is currently proposed as a pair of hotel buildings — White Sands and Amber Isle — encompassing 383 hotel rooms and meeting space.

In less than six years, the plans have undergone substantial revision four times, city records show. In 2004, the 124 hotel rooms in the project's White Sands building were converted into 110 condos. A year later the White Sands condo count was upped to 130, while Amber Isle's 96 condo units and retail space remained as they were originally proposed.


In 2007, all but 18 of the White Sands condos were scrapped, replaced by 100 hotel rooms. Along the way the height, shape and orientation of the buildings have changed as well.

The latest proposal has 224 hotel rooms and no condos in the White Sands building, and Amber Isle's condos and retail space replaced by 159 hotel rooms and about 14,500 square feet of meeting space. The White Sands building is proposed to stand 12 stories while the Amber Isle building would include five levels, city records show.

Mayor Tony Kennon said the project's primary developer, Mark Goldstein of New York, has "tried different combinations that he feels like will work in this market and that can be financed in this market. I think he feels like he has a combination now that will work based on the market conditions."

Kennon said Goldstein, who would build the White Sands portion, has told city officials that he plans to ask for tax abatements similar to those awarded last month to developer K.C. Chiang, who wants to build a $160 million Gulf-front hotel and convention center.

The mayor said that he's still waiting to see a formal proposal from Goldstein and his New Orleans partner Gary Solomon, who is developing the Amber Isle building. But the scope of their project probably won't merit any tax abatements, Kennon said.

"I think this council has determined that before we give any tax abatements, there's got to be a very real return to the city and not every project is going to meet that threshold," the mayor said.

City planners have yet to determine if the most recent plans require a vote from the City Council or if the redesign can be approved administratively.

Greg Leatherbury, a local lawyer who represents the developers, told city officials Monday that they have been negotiating a deal with state park officials to ferry hotel guests to the state park's beach pavilion. State officials and the developers have also discussed a reciprocal booking agreement, which means that should the state ever build its Gulf-front hotel, overflow crowds would be booked at the private resort, Leatherbury said.

"They're moving forward," Leatherbury said. "It's all a matter of financing."