The Galveston County Daily News

Landry’s Restaurants has announced plans to spend more than $15 million to restore a Galveston landmark — the old Flagship Hotel, 2501 Seawall Blvd. As a community, Galveston should do whatever it can to encourage that.

As soon as the story appeared in The Daily News, comments began appearing in the newspaper’s Internet forums, and they were nearly universally positive.

Here’s a sampling:

“Thank you, Tilman Fertitta (Galveston native and head of Landry’s), for stepping up to the plate. The Pleasure Pier has a lot of history. As a Galvestonian, it will be a welcome sight to be able to walk over the Gulf once again and enjoy an evening of fun...”

“God speed, Mr. Fertitta, may you be greatly rewarded for your good investment in this Island.”

Fertitta’s plans are to restore the Flagship Hotel, which has been falling into disrepair for years and was dealt a cruel blow by Hurricane Ike. It is a crumbling hulk today. Fertitta also plans to revive the concept of the old Pleasure Pier, which, as noted above, provided a focal point for the community for many years. The pier will feature a double-decker carousel and a Ferris wheel and other amusements.

Fertitta plans to rename the facility the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier Hotel and Resort. It will include, in addition to the hotel and amusements, a Chart House restaurant, one of Landry’s divisions.

In addition, Landry’s will develop parking across Seawall Boulevard on vacant property just to the west of Fish Tales Restaurant.

This project brings much to Galveston. To begin, it will clean up a terrible mess that negatively affects the appearance and viability of the seawall.

However, the project also will provide local people with a new entertainment and dining venue. It will add to the community’s mix of resources for meetings and conventions. It will add jobs at a time when they desperately are needed. It will add to the community’s tax base. Like other major attractions, it will bring new visitors to the community who will spend money across the community.

Moreover, it will create overall improvement on Seawall Boulevard farther to the east, and that’s good for everyone.

In return for all this, what does Tilman Fertitta want? That’s the interesting part. He has not asked for tax abatements, and he seeks no tax reinvestment zone to recoup his investment in the development. All he seeks from city government at this point of the project is cooperation.

From what we can tell, the people of Galveston support this project wholeheartedly, and we hope the city of Galveston will do likewise. So far, the city of Galveston seems to recognize the benefits of the project and is working to encourage it.

We hope that attitude continues throughout. Galveston has much to gain and nothing to lose.