FORT WALTON BEACH GETS A NEW KOHLS

New commercial coming to Fort Walton Beach and around the county. The Landmark Center is on the brink of starting construction with a major press release expected in the next couple of days. Come to paradise!!!!



Kohl’s site work begins
The two-story, 100,000-square-foot department store is slated for completion next spring
By THOMAS J. MONIGAN tmonigan@nwfdailynews.com

FORT WALTON BEACH — Kohl’s has finally broken ground in town. Site work has begun near the intersection of Beal Parkway and Hurlburt Road. The two-story, 100,000-square-foot department store is targeted for completion next spring. Earthmovers Inc. of Ocala has been doing the site work where Bay Furniture once stood next to Winn-Dixie. Elkins Constructors from Jacksonville is the general contractor, with Jason Carnes as project manager and Scott Simmons as site superintendent. Walls could be up in the next six to eight weeks, Simmons said Tuesday. Only one other two-story Kohl’s is located in Florida, and that was opened early this year in Tallahassee, according to Gordy Steadman, vice president of development for Elkins Constructors, which also built that building. All questions about cost of the project were referred to Kohl’s. The Okaloosa County GIS site lists the assessed value of the property at $2.8 million. No one from Kohl’s was available for comment. Okaloosa County commissioners approved the site plan for the store in February. Based in Menomonee Falls, Wis., the company operates more than 957 stores in 47 states, according to its Web site, www.kohls.com. The company will celebrate the opening of its 1,000th store this fall. Having a major department store such as Kohl’s build here during a bleak economic period is considered a major plus, said economic development expert David Goetsch of Northwest Florida State College. “It wasn’t uncommon when I came here 33 years ago to have people get up on Saturday mornings and drive to Pensacola to go shopping,” Goetsch said. “If you don’t have Kohl’s and Dillard’s and other service-oriented companies, then people have to take their money outside the community and spend it there. This keeps it circulating instead of draining off.”