Jekyll Island makes new deals for a $75 million makeover; critics fear proposals too upscale

Jekyll Island makes new deals for $75M development

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Revitalization plans for Jekyll Island got revived Wednesday after a six-month delay as the island’s governing board approved $75 million in private development for two hotels and a 4-acre beach village at the state park.

Jones Hooks, executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority, exclaimed “hallelujah” after the board voted to finalize deals with three developers who will take over projects stalled since December, when the state’s prior private partner backed out because of the sour economy.

Not everybody was happy. Mindy Egan of the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island said the proposed amenities seem too upscale for a state park mandated by state law to be accessible to Georgians of average means.

A new 200-room beachfront hotel next to a new convention center is projected to fetch average rates of $170-per-night. Average rates of $130-per-night are planned for a new mid-scale hotel nearby.

A third developer will build the centerpiece beach village with 40,000-square-feet of space for shops and restaurants plus 60 loft apartments.

“The presentation gave me the impression that the whole beach center complex is going upscale,” Egan said. “People come here so they can walk in their T-shirts and flip-flops and not feel like anybody’s looking down their noses at them.”

Some of the criticism stemmed from officials’ prior promises that building a new economy hotel would be a priority for the island.

Jekyll Island spokesman Eric Garvey said that was part of the now-defunct deal with former partner developer Linger Longer Communities. The new developers picking up the project now weren’t required to stick to those plans.

“We have plenty of lodging inventory that fits the economy level” among the island’s older hotels, Garvey said. “The mid-scale is something we know there’s a market demand for. We’re very comfortable this is the right approach.”

Jekyll Island has spent more than four years working toward a makeover to replace the island’s musty, aging convention center and hotels that have been blamed for a decline in visitors.

Officials had to scramble to find new private partners to complete the projects by the summer of 2012, when the island’s new convention center is scheduled to open. The state is spending $50 million in the convention center and other improvements.

The deals call for the developers to pay Jekyll Island about $374,000-a-year total in rent once the projects are finished. The island authority will also receive a percentage of revenues, Garvey said.

“Jekyll Island, as Georgia’s jewel, needed a little polish,” said Bob Krueger, chairman of the authority’s board. “What we’ve seen merely enhances what is already Jekyll’s natural beauty.”