Holiday Inn to go on AF beach

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. -- A $25 million hotel to be built on Eglin Air Force Base property on Okaloosa Island will be a Holiday Inn. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians are partnering with Innfree on the project. A groundbreaking for the 152-room Holiday Inn Resort, Destin West, was held Friday. For years after the announcement that a hotel would be built on 17 acres at Eglin's A-5 test site was referred to as the Emerald Breeze Resort. The hotel will have two towers, and the Air Force will have radar stations on the roofs of the buildings. The Air Force will collect rent from the developers. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 11/15/12) Release