Emerald waters coaxing top-notch resort

  • Published
  • By Mike Spaits
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  With its white sandy beaches and beautiful emerald waters, Northwest Florida makes for a pretty attractive vacation destination -- even for those that live here year round. And soon, military members may have a new option on where to stay should they choose Fort Walton Beach as their place to unwind. 

Through the Enhanced Use Lease process, Eglin is attempting to enter into a long-term lease agreement with a private developer to provide first-class, affordable resort accommodations to our military members and their families. The resort would be located on Okaloosa Island at Test Area A-5, 17 acres directly adjacent to the west side of the Sheraton Four Points hotel. 

The resort, dubbed "The Emerald Breeze," is in the concept phase right now, but base leadership envisions a first-rate hotel that would be available to military and civilians and could provide greater mission capabilities for monitoring testing and training over the Gulf of Mexico. 

Unlike the Hale Koa or Shades of Green, the Emerald Breeze is not an Armed Forces Recreation Center resort, and would have no services squadron affiliation. It will be a commercial enterprise that is open to the public, but caters to the military by providing rooms at a substantial discount. The actual structure of the discount will be negotiated as part of the lease. 

Originally unveiled to more than 800 people at the May 2006 Vision 2015 conference here, Eglin leadership looked at a variety of initiatives they thought could be beneficial to shape military and community growth to strengthen that partnership. 

Through the EUL concept, the land would be leased to a developer who would build, manage and maintain the hotel for a specified period of time. No taxpayer dollars would be used to build or operate the resort, and any revenues from the lease could be used to support maintaining and upgrading Eglin's infrastructure. 

In addition to the potential mission enhancement that raising the test equipment could bring, several hundred jobs, both direct and indirect, could be generated here in our community as a result of this project, and Eglin is asking potential developers to set aside additional parking to accommodate approximately 40 spots for locals so they can access the beach and use the facilities as well. 

Currently, an Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact, and Finding of No Practicable Alternative are available for public review and comment. 

The documents will be available to the public for review and comment until Mar. 12, 2009. The documents can be viewed online at www.eglin.af.mil, or at the following locations; Fort Walton Beach library, Destin Library, Navarre Library, and Crestview library.