By Dan Strumpf
Staff Writer
FORT PAYNE, Ala. -- A businessman who once sought to bring Indian-run gaming to this small Northeast Alabama town said he is moving forward with a multimillion-dollar commercial development project with or without a casino.
David Hammonds, of Ider, Ala., said he plans to begin turning about 110 acres of land off Interstate 59 into a tourist hub of shopping, restaurants and night life starting early in 2008.
Mr. Hammonds, 59, raised the prospect of bringing an Indian-run casino to Fort Payne in early 2006, and he said last week he would not rule out gaming in the future. But after a plan to deed a 69-acre portion of the land to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians fell through, Mr. Hammonds said he will develop the land without a casino.
"If that happens later on, fine," he said. "If it doesn't happen, we're still going to develop the property."
Mr. Hammonds said he has not been in talks with other tribes about bringing gaming to the site.
Sammy L. Still, a spokesman for the Oklahoma-based tribe, said tribal leaders never had any intention of building a casino on the land, but they hoped instead to build a cultural center to accompany an existing burial ground adjacent to the property. But tribal leaders have not spoken with Mr. Hammonds for some time, he said.
"As far as I know, there's no action being taken on it right now, but there's still interest in that land if (tribal leaders) ever decide to meet with whoever owns that land again," Mr. Still said.
Fort Payne once was a humming mill town that billed itself as the Sock Capital of World.
However, the town of 13,000 residents has suffered in recent years as factories have moved overseas and cheaper imported hosiery has undercut demand, and many residents acknowledged that reality.
"First thing (the development) would do is create jobs, since all the sock mills are leaving town," said Jerry Neeley, owner of Neeley's Garden Patch, a produce store in downtown Fort Payne. "It'll create revenue. We'll have more tourists coming into town."
Reva Henegar, manager of the downtown restaurant Country Kitchen, said she supported bringing a casino to town when the proposal came up.
"It would probably bring restaurants, hotels, motels," Ms. Henegar said. "We had so many businesses that closed down."
Mr. Hammonds is bullish about Fort Payne's future. Within driving distance of several major cities and surrounded by natural beauty, the town is well situated to become a tourist hub, he said.
"Look at what's there," he said. "You've got a state park; you've got the Little River Canyon. ... It just needs a little fine-tuning to make it a tourist destination."
In addition to theaters, restaurants, shops and hotels, Mr. Hammond also spoke of plans to clean and raise the water level of Big Wills Creek, which runs adjacent to the land, and add waterfront attractions.
He said he would attract hundreds of millions of dollars in investment over the next decade.
Mr. Hammonds said he has lined up investors to bankroll the project.
Some restaurant chains and construction companies have shown interest in the site, he said. He declined to name specific investors or companies.
Meanwhile, Fort Payne and DeKalb County officials said they knew nothing of plans to proceed with the project.
"I really don't see something happening (in the next couple of months)," said Jimmy Durham, director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Forum. "It'd be a pretty big operation."
Michael Lowry, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., who represents Fort Payne, said the plans were "news to me."
Several messages seeking comment from state Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, were not returned.
"Of recent, I haven't heard the first thing about it as far as the status of it," Fort Payne Mayor Bill Jordan said of the casino plan.
Mr. Hammonds said he is waiting on an expansion of U.S. Highway 11, which bisects Fort Payne and connects with I-59, to begin work on the project.
Tony Harris, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation, said the expansion is expected to be completed during summer 2008.
In the meantime, Mr. Hammonds, who runs a trucking company in Ider, said he has enlisted former NFL and University of Alabama football star John Hannah as a consultant on the project. Since retiring from pro football in 1986, the former lineman for the New England Patriots has worked as an investment banker, started a consulting company in his home state of Alabama and spent a year on the football coaching staff at Baylor School in 2005.
Mr. Hannah also serves on the Alabama Statewide Finance Committee for Republican presidential contender and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to a campaign spokeswoman.
Mr. Hannah, of Decatur, Ala., could not be reached for comment.
E-mail Dan Strumpf at dstrumpf@timesfreepress.com
WHAT HAPPENED
David Hammonds, 59, announced plans in 2006 to bring commercial development, anchored by a casino, to Fort Payne, Ala., at a meeting of the DeKalb County Tourism Association. But the plans fell through after the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians said it was not interested in bringing gaming to the town.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mr. Hammonds said he will move ahead early in 2008 with a multimillion-dollar plan to develop Fort Payne into a tourism hub of restaurants, nightlife and shopping, with or without a casino.
