Two years after Hurricane Ivan, the state's storm-damaged beachfront hotel at Gulf State Park is ready for the wrecking ball.
With an insurance dispute settled, Alabama Conservation Commissioner Barnett Lawley said today that Loxley-based Virginia Wrecking Company could begin demolition next month, but a timetable has not been completed.

Lawley said the hotel has been patched after numerous hurricanes and tropical storms and cannot be saved. He said the new hotel will be built at a location back from the beach, higher off the ground and nearer the highway than the old one.

The Conservation Department's damage estimate for the park after Ivan was more than 41 million dollars -- a figure based on the cost of replacing the existing facilities to meet more stringent international construction codes.

The 144-room hotel will be replaced with a 100 million dollars, 350-room hotel and convention center. It will be operated by a private company with Auburn University students also working at the site.

A lawsuit filed in Montgomery County lawsuit that challenges the plans for the hotel is scheduled for trial in October. That case must be resolved before the state can begin rebuilding.