Five Flags Inn will be rebuilt as Best Western
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

The SRIA granted conceptual approval to rebuild the Five Flags Inn which was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Slowly but surely, Pensacola Beach is shaking off the residue of Hurricane Ivan. More than four years after the storm rolled ashore, demolishing structures that withstood storms for over 40 years, a Pensacola Beach landmark will be resurrected in a new form.

The Five Flags Inn, which was originally built on Pensacola Beach in 1965 offered 49 gulf front rooms and a 50 x 25 foot pool. The family friendly motel attracted recurring visitors who brought steaks, chicken and hot dogs to grill poolside as the sun was setting.

"It was a big party," owner Baker Clark said. "Everybody had a grill and I had to eat some of everybody's or they'd be mad at me," he remembers.

Before the storm, grandparents, kids and grandkids were frequent visitors at the Five Flags Inn, enjoying a family vacation tradition since 1965.

Seeing the devastation after Hurricane Ivan was "a sad day, it really was," Clark said.

Since Ivan destroyed the motel, Clark and his brother-in-law partner, Mal Williams, wavered about whether to rebuild or sell the property. But now, Clark and Williams are now coming back to the beach with a new concept that continues to exude the family friendly, Gulf front ambiance in a modern format.

The plan calls for an eight-story building carrying the Best Western flag with 105 Gulf-front rooms . Each room will have a balcony.

Hotel amenities will include a pool, inside and outside bars, fitness center, breakfast area and business center. Surface parking will accommodate visitors.

If everything goes according to plan, construction will begin in early 2009 and the Best Western Five Flags Inn will open to guests in Spring of 2010. The Best Western worldwide reservation system will help keep the motel booked in the wintertime, Clark said.

This news will probably relieve the "tons" of people who asked the owners to rebuild the Five Flags Inn, either in person or on the answering system on the motel's original phone number, which the owners have kept active for the past four years.

The new motel will keep many of the features of the original motel, but the updates will be apparent.

"I have mixed emotions about it," Clark said, "But people have told me they know it can't be like it was."