2.5 years after Hurricane Sally damage, future of Pensacola Grand Hotel remains cloudy

The doors of the Pensacola Grand Hotel have been closed since Hurricane Sally damaged the building about two and a half years ago and so far, there’s no sign of it reopening.

The owners of the property, Holi Corp, declined to give an update on the condition of the hotel or plans for it, but city records indicate no repairs have been made since Sally hit in 2020.

“Our inspections office has not received any requests to visit the building, and we do not have any code cases on it,” said Kaycee Lagarde, public information officer for the city of Pensacola. “The city did issue a repair permit in 2020 right after Hurricane Sally, but it expired without inspections being completed. Since the contractor did not schedule any inspections with the city, to our knowledge, repairs to the building have not been completed.”

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The 15-story hotel is the tallest building in the city and sits in a prominent area near Downtown Pensacola next to Interstate 110 and the Pensacola Bay Center. The property is in Pensacola City Council member Allison Patton’s district. Like others in the community, she has heard talk of issues with insurance, or that there may be interest in selling it, but she doesn’t know what’s in store for the building.

“I’m obviously very interested in it,” said Patton. “I think that particular piece of property, given its proximity to the Bay Center and the hotel rooms that it supplied to the city are very important. Hopefully, the hotel can be rehabilitated and come back online as a hotel for the community, or if that isn’t possible, that somebody would step up and take the property and do something productive for the community with it.”

This isn’t the first time the Pensacola Grand Hotel has faced a set-back from storm damage and had a tough time bouncing back. Nancy Halford was general manager for the hotel for about 10 years, from 1992 to the early 2000s. She remembers the challenges the owners faced collecting from the insurance company in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

“I think back with Ivan, we were racked by a tornado, it racked the building causing all the window seals to break,” recalled Halford. “I looked at the insurance adjusters back then and said, ‘Look, it’s obvious, the seals are broken in the windows, and we needed 700 new windows.' They finally did pay. I’m not sure their situation right now, but it has always been a high-profile property and when someone won’t cooperate with you, it’s clear.”

The Pensacola Grand Hotel has been a city landmark for decades. What is now the lobby was once the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Passenger Depot and Express Office, built in 1912. Passenger trains rolled through the station until 1971 and the depot was later added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The hotel opened in 1984 with 210 rooms and served as a popular place for a variety of guests, from weddings and reunions or visitors attending events at the Pensacola Bay Center. The Cavu Club in the lobby was also popular with visitors and locals alike and featured a big collection of U.S. Navy memorabilia, which resonated with many guests.

“I loved working at the hotel,” Halford said. “I was very involved with tourism, and I loved the hospitality we could give our out-of-town guests and we did a lot of reunions there, military reunions. It was a gateway to Naval aviation and so many people came through there. People would tell stories about how when they first came to Pensacola as an aviator, they came through that train station and that was a very nostalgic thing for them. We always tried to make it special for them. It was such a pleasure getting to know guests and hearing their stories.”

Over the years, the Pensacola Bay Center also hosted countless concerts and many of the performers stayed at the Pensacola Grand Hotel, conveniently located across the street.

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“I remember Reba McEntire was there for a couple of weeks,” said Halford. “She would walk her own dog and kind of slip out the side entrance. You know, we didn’t bother our guests, we tried to keep it as private as possible. While they were staying there, we didn’t acknowledge whether they were in house or not, we tried to keep it as private as possible for them. Good memories.”

Halford hopes the hotel will reopen at some point.

“It is a very important piece of property to the core of downtown,” she said. “I would love to see it opened back up again to the public to show the historic aspect of it, especially the old train station and all the old antiques that were in there.”

Patton also hopes the hotel will eventually be back in business and suggested that perhaps the entire area could benefit from more attention from the city and county. Escambia County is still deciding whether it’s financially feasible to renovate or replace the aging Pensacola Bay Center, while Pensacola’s technology park sits empty across the street and is being used as a practice soccer field.

“That entire area connects to a great deal of parking, there are also a couple of undeveloped parcels that are key to the development of the city. I would very much like to see that area rehabilitated, redeveloped,” Patton said.

Mayor D.C. Reeves was not available to speak on the hotel, but Pensacola spokeswoman Kaycee Lagarde said there has been some interest in the property, although nothing has come of it.

“Although we have received inquiries about the property, no permit applications or development plans have been submitted to the city,” Lagarde said.

If and when the hotel does reopen, previous guests are ready.

“Stayed here two or three years in a row for our vacation and we loved it!” a poster named Kay wrote in an online Google Review of the Pensacola Grand Hotel. “Love the look of the hotel and the staff was always so nice. Hope they re-open soon so we can stay here again!”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Grand Hotel Hurricane Sally damage leaves reopening in doubt