All along the Emerald Coast of Florida, also known as The Redneck Riviera, construction companies from all over the southeastern United States are at work on numerous major projects, many with several phases. Alongside the tourists with their blankets, umbrellas and suntan oils, were backhoes, tower cranes, and busy construction crews scooping sand, driving pylons, mixing cement and moving materials.

Aside from being a favorite spot for many tourists, Destin has grown up to join the world of the super resort town. The quiet little get-away it once was is gone, and in place is a sophisticated state-of-the-art vacation destination that rivals any place on earth.

A series of high-rise buildings stand in various stages of development, within a few feet of some of the bluest water this side of the Aegean. Construction trailers dot the landscape as little dispatch centers to help make the work go smoothly. This goes on from morning to night six days a week. Tractors, excavators, dozers, backhoes, etc. scurry back and forth behind chain link fences.

What of Destin’s building boom? Well, nobody likes to see Paradise turn into a parking lot, but it is the price of progress, and economic increase. The newly constructed buildings will soon be the only evidence of all the activity. The bulldozers and construction crews will go home, the roads will be fixed and a more cosmopolitan, but normal lifestyle will develop. The expansion of rooms, roads and commercial properties will help accommodate the many new tourists to view and partake of the water, the sand or the fabulous sunrises and sunsets.

Meanwhile, heavy equipment of every type is visible at almost every corner on the beachfront. Scrapers, forklifts, hydraulic hammers and cranes work right next to the real estate offices that are advertising the sites. Pictures and blueprints point out safety features and explain the extraordinary techniques necessary to build durable beachfront high-rise properties.

A walk down the beach provides visitors with a close peek at a multi-floored edifice in progress. Visitors do not seem to mind the noise, the detours or interruptions in the panorama. Fascinated with the big machines, they watch as the latest equipment and crews work to improve their favorite vacation spot.

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