Orange Beach approves design for Gulf-front resort hotel - al.com

Orange Beach approves design for Gulf-front resort hotel - al.com: "ORANGE BEACH — Developer K.C. Chiang's designs for a high-rise Gulf-front hotel and convention center won unanimous approval from the Orange Beach City Council, but now the panel must decide if it wants to grant the developer a tax abatement worth tens of millions of dollars to see the project come to fruition.

During a two-hour public hearing Tuesday night that preceded the council's vote on the designs, Chiang said that he and his partners — Chicago-based Centrum Properties and the Wyndham Hotel chain — need Orange Beach to share millions of dollars of revenue generated at the resort to secure their $160 million financing package.

Specifically, they are asking for half the sales and lodgings taxes for up to 30 years as well as the ability to levy additional taxes of up to 4 percent on the resort's rooms and at its restaurants and shops."