Another great read from the Florence Detective (flodetective@gmail.com):
Keep on trying Eugene Sak. The “white elephant”, the old “Downtowner Moto Inn” where Aretha Franklin spent part of a night and Rick Hall almost got thrown off the balcony by Aretha’s husband in the documentary: “Muscle Shoals” was the subject of a special “early” work session of the Florence city council on 02/06/2024. Sak bought the building a few years ago with the block that surrounds it. Instead of the customary start time of 4 pm the meeting was moved up an hour to 3. There was no notice given to the public and the only thing that alerted this reporter was the fact that I am a “Facebook warrior” and keep the website activated continuously on my phone. My alert went off that the meeting had started. I missed the first few minutes and when I joined the stream there were already some men in suits at the podium. One was from the Hard Rock Cafe organization. He was talking about a proposal to essentially “remodel” the old hotel and rename it “Reverb”. This is Hard Rock’s new “brand” for millennial lodging. Kaytrina Simmons seemed uninterested in another “remodel.”
About a year ago, Eugene Sak proposed to demolish this property and build a Hilton hotel. This was to be a $70 million dollar project and Sak approached the city then to help with funding the project. The city declined. The legality was questioned. How it became more legal to fund a Hard Rock hotel in the meantime remains a mystery, but this time Mr. Sak is requesting a $9.5 million boost to the $40 million price tag for a “Reverb” hotel. A handout was issued to the council with the usual “financial impact” numbers and the “boost to tourism”.
This is all very well, but it was very heartening when Jimmy Oliver asked why Eugene Sak could not get the $9.5 million HIMSELF to finish out the cost of the project from investors. Now THAT was the Jimmy Oliver I had supported! There were questions from some other council members if this money was for infrastructure but the lawyers and PR reps didn’t bite and say yes so something tells me Eugene Sak will need to come up with another trendy franchise to try and get the taxpayers of Florence to fund his hotel.
The only other interesting few minutes to me from the work session were when Sgt. Justin Hill from the Florence police dept went before the council to explain a program that he and officer Brandon Lindsey came up with to help the homeless of the area. Many who are homeless have lost all forms of identification. Sometimes through fires or extreme weather conditions ruining documents but whatever the reason it is almost impossible to get any services from area agencies for temporary housing or food without ID. And obtaining employment is impossible. They proposed a program entitled “Clip it” This stands for Community Lauderdale ID program. The officers needed $5,000 from the council to get the program started. While the council seemed to approve, for some reason it was stated that this would not be added to the agenda to be voted on at this meeting but would be put on a later agenda. (Unlike TWO items added to the agenda immediately to buy machines for the new Florence utility payment center.) Just when I think they are getting better, they do it again! Well, one can hope eventually this council will “do the right thing” the first time! But, when all was said and done, this wasn’t a bad couple of meetings. The work session was held early for a still unknown reason and the regular meeting zipped by with little drama. And Eugene Sak can try, try again.
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