April 11--SANDESTIN -- The Hilton Sandestin Golf Resort and Spa may be nearing 30 years old, but an upcoming $10 million renovation is designed to make sure no one can tell.

The Hilton recently announced plans to redesign and refurnish of all its Spa Tower rooms, upgrade the 11,000-square-foot Serenity by the Sea Spa and enhance the hotel's entrance, lobby and common areas.

Construction is scheduled to start Oct. 1 and run through next February.

"It's time to put money back into the property and maintain that cutting edge and continue to be the leader," said Gary Brielmayer, general manager of the Hilton Sandestin. "We're really looking forward to it. We're excited.

"This is on the heels of our 30-year anniversary, so basically our 30-year-old property is going to be, from top to bottom, completed and brand new," he added.

The renovation will come after two recent projects to update the hotel.

In 2011, the Hilton Sandestin completed a $6.5 million job to rebuild the Barefoots Bar & Grill restaurant and pool deck, and complete repairs to a portion of the hotel damaged by a fire. Earlier this year, the hotel completed a $5.5 million project to renovate Seagars Prime Steaks and Seafood and the hotel's conference spaces.

"Every facet of the hotel will have been renovated or touched in some way, shape or form over the last three years after next season's renovations," Brielmayer said. "The entire property will be new, and that's from Seagars on the east end to the spa and all the rooms on the west end. The entire property will be brand new and renovated."

The latest facelift will begin with the complete transformation of the 200-room Spa Tower. It will be the tower's first major renovation in about eight years.

"We're going to strip the rooms down to the Sheetrock and the studs and completely redo those rooms," Brielmayer said.

The Spa Tower will be closed during the work. The spa itself will be moved temporarily to another part of the resort and will be available for limited service.

"We've closed in the winter and done cleanup and touch-up (on the spa), but it's just time to do a major renovation in there," Brielmayer said. "It's been a very popular destination for locals in the area and it's been supported by the local community, and it's just time to give it a facelift and an upgrade."

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