Submitted by Anne H. Oman
Reporter-at-Large
The Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort unveiled its $85 million re-do of its hotel and conference center Thursday evening in a reception and dinner for some 300 island and off-island guests, who feasted on sushi, oysters and other delicacies on a terrace overlooking a magnolia garden. The evening culminated with an auction of five paintings and several prints executed before guests’ eyes by “action”artist Michael Israel, which netted more than $100,000 for St. Vincent’s Hospital’s mobile outreach unit, which provides free health care to poor and uninsured patients in northeast Florida. The larger than life paintings depicted Muhammad Ali, the Statue of Liberty, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and John Lennon. (To protect the artist’s copyright, no photographs were allowed of the works.)
The construction project, which began in November, 2011, doubled the hotel’s conference space to 80,000 square feet and more than doubled the number of hotel rooms. The hotel now has 404 ocean-facing rooms and 300 villas. In addition, the golf courses and the Verandah Restaurant (the only restaurant at the resort which is open to the public) were revamped.
Rates at the hotel range from $199 to $500-plus, depending on the accommodations and the season. Occupancy rates are about 60 to 80 percent during the high season, according to General Manager Paul Eckert.
So how did the project benefit Fernandina Beach and Nassau County?
“During the 16-month project, we employed 500 workers – all from the local area,” said Managing Director Tim Digby. The expanded facility also means an additional 250 permanent jobs – from dishwashers to sales managers, he added. The resort now employs more than 1,000 people, and is the largest private-sector employer in Nassau County.
Resort officials did not have estimates of how much money their guests spend in other businesses on the island, but Gil Langley, President and CEO of the Amelia Island Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that tourism brings $345 million a year to the island.
“The average visitor spends about $1,600 per trip,” he said, “including an average of $645 for a room. That leaves almost a thousand dollars for other expenditures.”
These could include restaurant meals, boat trips, drinks at the Palace, etc., he explained.
Nassau County and Fernandina Beach will also benefit from the money raised for St. Vincent’s, said Jane Lanier, President of St. Vincent’s Healthcare Foundation, leading a tour through one of the foundation’s six mobile outreach vans. The vans are staffed by a physician, a nurse and medical technicians.
“We’re a doctor’s office on wheels,” said Nurse-Manager Estella Mouzon, explaining that the units provide everything from childhood immunizations to diabetes screening. “We treat hypertension, we dispense antibiotics – anything you can do in a doctor’s office, we do here. We’re in Nassau County every Thursday, either in Callahan, Yulee, Hilliard or Fernandina Beach.”
In Fernandina, the mobile clinic parks on South 11th Street opposite the Barnabas building across from Central Park. The vans also visit schools, churches and other non-profit groups on request.
Editor’s Note: Anne H. Oman recently relocated to Fernandina Beach from Washington, D.C. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Washington Times, Family Circle and other publications.
May 10, 2013 10:13 a.m.