Henderson Park Inn to Reopen

Honeymoons, weddings and an unimpeded view of the Gulf of Mexico. The Henderson Park Inn is re-opening.

Once touted as Destin’s only bed and breakfast, the Inn has been closed to paying guests for several years due to hurricane damage and today it’s undergoing major renovations for a re-opening in May.

The Henderson Park Inn originally opened in 1992 and builder Bill Abbott said it was designed to fill a niche in the Destin resort market. “At that time, Destin did not have a bed and breakfast,” he said.

With a design modeled after Sparhawk Hall in Ogunquit, Maine, Abbott set out to build a New England-style bed and breakfast on the Gulf Coast. Each room, he said, was named after artists from the Impressionist period. “It gave every room some character. For example, we’d put Monet prints in the Monet room,” he said. “The rooms were pretty upscale for Destin at the time.”

And it was a hit. Ted Corcoran, a Destin city councilor, used to manage the bookings for the property and said the Inn was a hot spot for honeymoons and wedding. “It was a beautiful property, 24 units, all regally appointed.

“It was very popular with honeymooners and would be booked months in advance during peak season,” he said. “It had an unobstructed view of the Gulf that is really one-of-a-kind in this area.” In its heyday, Corcoran said, the Inn had one policy that made it very popular with adult guests on romantic getaways — no children allowed.

“People on anniversaries or honeymoons didn’t have to worry about kids screaming through the halls,” he said. “Abbott Resorts (the Inn’s owners at the time of its opening) had the Coral Reef Club next door for families.”

The Destin-based Sterling Companies has partnered with Dunavant Enterprises, a Memphis-based corporation, to run the inn when it reopens in May. Jim Olin, managing partner at the Sterling Companies, said word of the inn’s re-opening has spread — response surprised everyone involved.

“We’ve had an enormous amount of response from people asking about the Inn and we didn’t realize there would be this level of excitement,” he said. “The Inn really does make memories. “It’s a very special place ’s along the Gulf.” Olin said the Inn will stay true to its bed and breakfast roots — with a few changes.

Its restaurant, formerly called The Veranda, will no longer be open to the public, only to guests staying at the inn. Re-opening the Henderson Park Inn is part of a bigger project that will include the development of the parcel of land on the north side of Scenic Hwy. 98, Olin said.

The exact cost of the renovation was not disclosed but Olin described the improvements to the Inn as a major overhaul that is seeing room-by-room renovation. In addition to honeymooners, the inn also played host to some non-paying guests in recent memory.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, developer, and thenowner of the Inn, Rick Olson opened the Inn’s doors to Katrina evacuees.

Published on Wednesday, March 21, 2007