Dusty Ricketts
March 6, 2008 - 1:55PM
DESTIN ? The city?s largest shopping center is growing.
Okaloosa County commissioners have approved plans to expand Destin Commons. The expansion will include 160,000 square feet of shops, a hotel and a new parking garage, and be anchored by four as yet unnamed restaurants.
?I think it?s time we got some work going out there,? Commission Chairman James Campbell said at Tuesday?s meeting.
The expansion will include a seven-story building that will have shops on the ground floor and a 192-room hotel on the other floors. Tom Patton, development manager for the project, said a major chain has signed on for the hotel, but Destin Commons is not releasing its name or the names of any of the other businesses yet.
?That will be announced very soon,? Patton said.
The hotel will be connected by a walkway to a five-story parking garage. That building will also have stores on the ground floor.
Two one-story retail buildings will also be built.
The expansion will be in the southwest corner of the center, which is now used for parking. Patton said site work will begin soon and construction is expected to start in mid- to late summer.
Work is expected to be completed in the fall of 2009.
