A Florida businessman has an option to buy the Delta Queen and move it to the Florida coast for continued use as a hotel.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/southeast-volusia/2012/03/27/innkeeper-wants-to-tow-riverboat-hotel-to-new-smyrna-beach.html

Wesley

I have mixed feelings about this...

She is a California River boat... moved to the Mississippi as a river boat, rebuilt more than once to allow continued service... now to Florida as a hotel...

Its a lot like a Southern diner in Iowa as an ice cream stand.

We are lucky to have sister boat, Delta King as a hotel in Sacramento near CSRM. It is closer to preservation, than the stuffed and mounted Florida Queen.

Randy

I have bad feelings about this, VERY bad.

If this gets approved, it will mean the end of the Delta Queen. It will lie in salt water in an environment filled with salt: salt air, salt dew, salt in ocean breezes. It will subject to destruction by hurricanes and tropical storms. Her hull is not equipped to handle salt water.

Further, Mr. Heller has a history of neglecting history. He purchased a mansion in Orlando that was on the National Register of Historic Places and began to tear it down. Orlando historians got the city to intercede and he ended up donating it to the city. They moved it from the property, restored it and have it open to the public now. He built a 27,000 SF mansion of his own on the property. He said, "It's a house the city will be proud of and people will like looking at it".

The DQ is leased to a hotel operator in Chattanooga who has maintained it in nearly operable condition. He has not altered it and it looks as good as when it was cruising. One boiler is kept hot and the engines and stern wheel are exercised to keep them serviceable.

There is a good chance that Mr. Heller will alter the Delta Queen, perhaps knocking out walls to enlarge some of the staterooms. The integrity of the boat will be lost.

If the DQ goes there, it will never run again. It is still able to cruise with up to 49 passengers but that isn't enough to cover costs so it is being used as a hotel.

The fact that Mr. Heller has an "option to buy" tells me a lot. It means that Xanterra is willing to undercut the current lease holders. That isn't a good sign.

The Delta Queen will not survive long in a salt water environment on the inland waterway, barely a few hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean.

Mr. Heller has to get the project approved by the New Smyrna Beach city commission and a public hearing will take place on April 10th. I have written to the mayor, vice mayor and three city council members asking them to disapprove the project, as have others.

If you would like to help, please send email messages to the people listed below asking them to disapprove the project.

Thanks,
Jim Herron

City of New Smyrna Beach, FL
Mayor - Adam Barringer abarringer@cityofnsb.com
Vice Mayor - James Hathaway jhathaway@cityofnsb.com
City Commissioner
JS Grasty jgrasty@cityofnsb.com
Commissioner
Lynne Plaskett lplaskett@cityofnsb.com
City Commissioner
Judy Reiker jreiker@cityofnsb.com