Restaurants, stores opening at HarborWalk Village

DESTIN - Coming east over the Marler Bridge, it's hard to miss Emerald Grande's twin 14-story towers and all the construction that's been going on around them.
   
Over the next few months, developer Legendary Inc. will be opening 66,000 square feet of new shops and restaurants designed to make its $250 million mixed use project a zone all its own.
   
"This is a true resort destination now," said Bob Picconi, Legendary's vice president of property management. He's been dubbed the "Mayor of HarborWalk Village" by fellow employees.
   
"You can come down here, park your car, and you don't have to go anywhere," Picconi said.
   
Moss Anderson has been the general contractor for the project, with individual contractors involved in the respective "build outs."
   
With retailer Del Sol and Sawyer Art Gallery opening in recent days, Legendary's schedule for openings goes like this: 

• June: Tis the Season and SugarLand
• Early July: Harry T's, Commander's Palace, Kitty Hawk Kites, Mardi Gras Daiquiris, Luksus Clothing and Nouveau Flowers
• Late summer: Water Grille, Sunglass World, Sonia's Psychic Studio, Pat O'Brien's and Camellia Grill.

Live music is scheduled outdoors every Saturday during June, July and August. The first of the scheduled all-day Sunday art shows drew about 600 people, Picconi said.
   
"Things will be going online like a steady drumbeat all summer long," Craig McIntyre, Legendary's executive vice president of development, recently told the Destin Log.
   
There's plenty of activity already established in the immediate area, involving The Lucky Snapper restaurant and the various fishing and sightseeing boats at the docks.
   
"This should be good for us," said Michael Page, kitchen manager at The Lucky Snapper. He's been at the restaurant 14 years. "Everything's been focused on Baytowne Wharf and Destin Commons, but once the stores get open, we'll have a lot more people walking through.
   
As for Emerald Grande its 281 condo units are available in both "whole ownership" and "fractional shares."
   
Ed McMullen Jr., executive vice president for Legendary's Realty, reported in an e-mail that while new customer tour traffic has slowed and is nearly 25 percent below 2007, the actual sales volume is up by more than 10 percent over last year.
   
"Emerald Grande has been the company's biggest seller and fractional ownership leads the number of sales in 2008 by more than three to one," McMullen wrote.
   
Emerald Grande has sold and closed more than $170 million in condo sales, McMullen said. This year, Legendary initiated a resale program, which has turned over at least whole time and fractional units for more than the original sales price.