Beal House Fort Walton Beachfront, Tapestry Collection by Hilton has opened in the Florida Panhandle. The six-story, 100-key hotel reopened following a down-to-the-studs renovation and a rebrand from Best Western. The reimagined Beal House is owned and operated by South Carolina-based OTO Development, part of The Johnson Group.
Sixty of the hotel's guestrooms have balconies overlooking the water. The rooms have coastal touches and conveniences like storage cubbies to stow all the gear travelers bring to the beach. Public spaces at the hotel include a fitness center, an outdoor pool, a library and an onsite restaurant, The Remedy Coastal Kitchen + Bar.
The Beal House name honors the legacy of Dr. James Hartley Beal (1861–1945), a distinguished pharmacist, an avid shell collector and a creative thinker who fostered the region’s early tourism industry. Naming the restaurant The Remedy is a nod to Dr. Beal’s role in the field of pharmacology. And his shell collection, reportedly one of the largest in the world, serves as a design motif scattered throughout the hotel interior. A commissioned mosaic by Georgian artist Brandon Harder, for example—designed with more than 300 pounds of shell from around the world—is displayed at the front desk while lobby shadowboxes display other seashells. A pool bar selfie wall by Panhandle muralist Sara Gramlich proclaims the location’s “Good Time State of Mind.”
OTO Development partnered on the Beal House project with Pond, architect and interior designer; Robins & Morton, general contractor; and Kaleidoscope Design Factory, art vendor.