Disease takes out tree hotel wanted for centerpiece
By Dan Harkins
Premiere Development Group
NEW SMYRNA BEACH - Red bay ambrosia beetles may sound cute and harmless but they just brought down yet another giant tree.
The tree was to be the courtyard centerpiece of the first hotel to be built in the city since the 1980s.
The entire three-story, 112-room Hampton Inn, which is currently under construction at the 200 block of Florida Avenue for a price tag of about $16 million, was designed around this laurel tree, which had a shady canopy that encompassed an area about 30 feet in diameter.
