TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (WMBB) — One of the newest projects in the military’s rebuild of Tyndall Air Force Base is a new military lodging facility.
Tyndall’s original base hotel, the “Sand Dollar Inn” was built in 1943. 75-years later, Hurricane Michael destroyed it.
Tyndall’s Lodging Manager Joe Moore said they will be building a new military lodging facility on base.
“We’re looking at them being able to come and congregate in a nice new facility on the inside,” Moore said. “ There will be a restaurant, there will be all the amenities that you would require as a traveler.”
This 360 room hotel will be used to host military members temporarily staying at Tyndall and people staying long term to complete a mission.
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All guest rooms will be climate controlled and it will be a very modern space.
Rigoberto Perez with the 325th support squadron said this new facility will increase their capability and support the work done on base.
“The mission behind the Air Force Inns is to provide low-cost proximity to the work area to the mission and also basically accommodations that allow anyone that visits us a comfortable away from home accommodations,” Perez said.
Prior to Hurricane Michael, Tyndall welcomed around 11 thousand guests annually. After the storm, they were operating with only 33 percent of those rooms. The new facility is expected to change that.
“I expect that we are going to go up somewhere in the vicinity of 28 thousand bed nights, hotel nights when the new facility is built and we will be at about 85 percent occupancy year-round,” Moore said.
Tyndall is expected to break ground on the building early next year and it will be open for business at the end of 2024.
As for the name of the hotel, they will be keeping the name “The Sand Dollar Inn”.