Deadline to move old Fort Walton Beach hotel drawing near

Marianna-based Ducky Johnson House Movers has until March 5 to move the two-story, roughly 5,500-square-foot building and set it up in its new location.

TONY JUDNICH @Tonyjnwfdn

FORT WALTON BEACH — The relocation date of the historic Gulfview Hotel still isn’t known yet, but City Manager Michael Beedie on Tuesday said he hopes to have that information available for the next City Council meeting on Feb. 13.

Marianna-based Ducky Johnson House Movers has until March 5 to move the two-story, roughly 5,500-square-foot building and set it up in its new location. That deadline represents 90 days from the date the company received the city’s notice to proceed with the relocation.

City and company officials still are waiting on the Florida Department of Transportation to approve the city’s plan to temporarily relocate traffic lights, power lines and other utility lines for the building move. Beedie plans to present the cost of the temporary relocations at the Feb. 13 council meeting.

Donald Barbee, project manager for Ducky Johnson House Movers, said Wednesday that the company is still in talks with FDOT, as well as with Gulf Power, about the temporary relocations. The building move might not be ready to occur for another month or more, Barbee said.

The city’s plan calls for moving the 111-year-old wood-framed Gulfview Hotel building from its current spot at 12 Miracle Strip Parkway SE a half-mile east to a vacant, city-owned parcel on the northwest corner of Miracle Strip Parkway and Florida Place.

In its new location, FWB officials propose using the structure as the first-ever Fort Walton Beach Welcome Center, which would be operated by the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce. The building also could feature a history museum, a café or deli and leased office space.

Last January, the council accepted the donation of the building from its previous owners, Tom and Nicole Rothrauff and the Wyninger family. The Rothrauffs plan to build their new home on the hotel’s original site after the building is moved.

The city has $300,000 in Community Redevelopment Agency money set aside for the cost of relocating the old hotel and setting it up in its new spot.

The Chamber of Commerce has raised a little more than $5,000 toward its goal of $50,000 for the overall project. Chamber President/CEO Ted Corcoran has said several times in recent months that some large donors have pledged to give money for the project once the building is actually moved.

"We, like everyone, are standing by to wait for the big news (of the moving date), but we’re getting closer, and that’s encouraging," Corcoran said Wednesday.

Ducky Johnson House Movers will be paid $149,800 to move and set up the building at its new spot. The city’s cost of temporarily relocating traffic lights, power lines and other utility lines is estimated to be $60,000 to $100,000.

According to its website, Ducky Johnson House Movers’ past projects include the relocation of the Cape San Blas Lighthouse and several associated structures 13 miles from the Cape to Core Park in Port St. Joe.

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