Post #737697 by Swanky on Thu, Feb 19, 2015 6:38 AM

On 2015-02-18 00:44, Hurricane Hayward wrote:
It's possible this may enable the restoration of the old gift shop building on the north side of the property that has been shut down since hurricane damage years ago. Prior to the designation, I believe they were told they had to tear it down and rebuild if they were to use it as a public building again. That may not be the case now.

It was and is not in danger of demolition. It is perfectly sound.

It was built to be the gift shop, but as the gift shop it was a bit of a failure. It didn't get foot traffic. When it was opened it ended an era in the Mai-Kai as the original gift shop, which was extremely popular and did extremely well, was shuttered. The family that ran it left the Mai-Kai.

It has always suffered from a "what do we do with it" problem. It was a place for small events for a while. Now it is storage mainly. They are working on a new plan for the building and will build it out to suit that plan when it happens. It is a pretty small room and I do not think there is a bathroom over there. I imagine it will either become a small private party room again, or a specialty room. I have heard cigar room discussed. But it may just sit there as spending money over there for a guess at a good purpose is not something they may want to do.

It is being maintained. They have painted and repaired trim etc.

There was a very short time when it was "condemned" due to an inspector giving it a 2 minute walk around and seeing some rotten wood trim and assuming that was what supported the building. He was sent back out and they pointed out the large steel I-beams the building is built on and changed his report.