Kirby Thompson introduced speaker Jones Hooks, executive director of the Jekyll Island Authority (JIA)since 2008 (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=gqr6xabab&et=1104983683630&s=244&e=001b4lrccyZj0s7_VYaegN1kk1X6F582sHHkNi-PN03kwRpXhDWIjSjvokT1xpvvpLje3CYY54aZYIQuJA5rtr9ycnUSLuRhkaSQaDZuIrJlTmRufA1voRvitehSrcj4zNP). With 162 full-time personnel and 160 part-time employees, the JIA is responsible for providing services, programs, and amenities that maximize benefits to Jekyll Island visitors and residents.

Purchased in 1947 from the Jekyll Island Club for $675,000, the island "is your island -- owned by the people of Georgia" and no funds are budgeted for its operation by the State of Georgia, according to Mr. Hooks.  "Jekyll Island operates as a small city with an annual budget of  approximately $16 million, and it is required by law to be financially self-sustaining," he said.  

The Jekyll Island Revitalization project resulted from the realization that the island and its facilities had been neglected and were derelict.  More than 70 groups that had met there previously, such as Rotary District 6900, were holding their conferences and meetings elsewhere. 

All beach front motels and hotels were razed, new design and environmental guidelines were established, and redevelopment of existing footprints -- for both buildings and green spaces -- began.  A Hampton Inn was built on the footprint that had formerly been the Holiday Inn.  Opening in January 2010, this was the first new lodging built on the island in 30 years.  The new Great Dunes Park opened in September 2010, and demolition on the old convention center began the following month.  That demolition has just been completed, and the new center will open in the summer of 2012 with the first convention scheduled there in September 2012.  Meanwhile, the former J.P. Morgan tennis center (built in 1929) in the "Millionaires' Village" has been repurposed as a temporary convention center.  The inaugural meeting at that facility took place in November 2010, and the group was the Federal Reserve, which had been founded on Jekyll Island 100 years earlier.

The Authority adheres to a strict formula which prescribes that 35 percent of the island may be built out and developed as green space and 65 percent must remain undeveloped.  Structures must be built in such a way as to minimize environmental impact and to be "green" (LEED certified), and conservation of natural resources is a major component of the revitalization plan.  An example of the latter -- an impressive 34 live oak trees have been transplanted.

Mr. Hooks admits that the economy continues to be problematic, with hotel and retail development "very tenuous at this time," but the future of Jekyll Island is overall very promising.