Kudos to the St. Regis developers

As a longtime owner of property on Longboat Key (42 years) and having read and observed what has taken place at the St. Regis Site, I would like to make some public comments.

I give enormous credit to the developer for taking 10 years out of his life to develop this property. Ten years of legal hassle day in and day out with former unit owners and the town at great expense. (Chuck) Whittall deserves every penny of profit and then some for sticking with this project when other developers would have thrown in the towel. Mr. Whittall, job well done. Thank you.

Not to be outdone by the owner, Moss Construction has done an outstanding job on a three-quarter billion dollar job flawlessly. No deaths, no major accidents, obtaining building materials when there was a shortage of building materials, getting hundreds of skilled workers for the trades when there was a shortage of skilled tradespeople, ferrying millions of building supplies to the site without disturbing the island residents, ferrying workers to the site in buses without noise and parking problems, keeping Gulf of Mexico Drive free of vehicles, dirt, dust and swept frequently are just a few of the multitude of items involved in a complex construction project.

This Moss project deserves every bit of praise for a very large project built on schedule in a confined difficult work site. Longboat Key thanks Moss for a job well done and we welcome you back anytime.

— Paul B. Ahern, Longboat Key