Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation's Quest for National Surfrider Museum Site Leads to Meeting with Middle East Surfing For Peace Movement Leaders

    NEW YORK, NY, June 03, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. William Hyatt Gordon, LEED-AP, 40, President of Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation, a New York, New York-based real estate development firm has quietly searched for the perfect setting for a National Surfrider Museum in Hawaii and California. This has been no easy feat for Gordon, who is renowned for including first-day museum concepts into signature economic development projects. His firm Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation has proposed the Island of Ireland Music Centre as a part of the Belfast International Trade and Convention Centre complex on Parcel 14 at Titanic Quarter. In Belfast, his firm has sought to unify diverse streams of economic development to create a destination environment able to appeal to both business and leisure travelers throughout the age spectrum, 18-70. At another project in London, developed as a multi-generational destination studio facility along the lines of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the firm has been able to draw from audiences throughout the age spectrum 18-70 through a wide variety of multi-generational programming inclusive of the hippest and most cutting edge techno and rock music to the most stoic, but enlightening book reviews, and refreshing expressions of classical music. In France in Champagne-Ardenne, the firm has created a new complex featuring four (4) global trophy events including two global tennis events, a golf course able to host a PGA Champions Tour, and a world-level water-polo and swimming tournament centered around one of France's most technology advanced tennis venues.

He seeks to do the same with the National Surfrider Museum complex, in that Gordon wants the museum to be a part of a larger economic development platform, and not a stand-alone facility. Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation has a specific formula for the success of its cultural facilities, including the utilization of a signature architect and cutting edge programs able to engage both youth and seniors alike, which allow a facility to become a civic asset, and the center of a larger economic development plan.

Throughout his journey in planning the Surfrider Museum Gordon has come across surfers old and young, from professionals to barefoot historians, from classic 1950s beach-boys to radical surfer-skaters that emerged from Venice Beach's Dog Town movement, to surfers from around the world. He was introduced to Queensland's first female premiere, Anna Bligh, through surfer contacts on Twitter, and later learned about Q2, the premiere's Queensland Tomorrow plan inclusive of self-managed healthcare, and the basis of the Patient-Centered Medical Homes his firm develops for private clients. He has watched 1960s footage of the Beach Boys in France, and has met France's new generation of surfers in Biarritz, a city that appears on his firm's updated website inclusive of a surfboard.

William Hyatt Gordon, who started his career as an intern at Spin Magazine, loves to create media product to coincide with, or introduce, Gordon Atlantic Developments' cultural facilities. But in the development of the Island of Ireland Music Centre, his firm has had the opportunity to focus not just on the intersection of culture and media, but on the unique circumstances where media and culture combine with peace-building to form a distinct social movement. As a result, the focus of Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation's Island of Ireland Music Centre is Irish music as a social movement throughout Irish history ranging from its early origins to its modern expression through U2 and even boy band, Boy Zone. William Hyatt Gordon has always felt blessed and challenged to memorialize music as social movement that overcame "the troubles" in Northern Ireland. Often, as he has walked through the streets of Belfast, it has been difficult for him to imagine that there were ever "troubles" or the need for peacebuilding there in the first place.

Along his quest for the development of the National Surfrider Museum he came across a peace-building and outreach initiative called Surfing 4 Peace, and discovered amongst its photographs a surf clinic held in Hertzilia, Israel for Muslim and Jewish children by Mr. Kelly Slater, 37, the American nine (9) time champion of the Association of Surfing Professionals Tour. One photograph in particular of Mr. Slater, who is of Syrian descent, teaching a young Muslim girl wearing a hijab how to surf inspired Gordon to inquire about ways for him or his firm to help foster activities that encouraged peace building skills amongst Muslim and Jewish children through a common interest such as surfing or skateboarding.

Gordon learned that Surfing 4 Peace works closely with a United States-based, not-for-profit organization called Explore Corps, led by Mr. Matthew Olsen, 32, who holds a graduate degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, and was a graduate of the American International School in Israel. Olsen has been involved with a host of international relations activities including working on the International Campaign to Ban Land -Mines, disarmament verification is post-Soviet republics, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, to name a few. He is also an avid outdoor enthusiast and educator. Explore Corps is able to promote cross cultural dialogue through participation in "extreme sports" such as skateboarding and surfing for Israeli and Palestinian youth. Coincidentally, William Hyatt Gordon's firm, Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation provides the firm's own branded Gordon Atlantic skateboards to youth organizations, including the Fiver Organization, as "raffle" or silent auction items. William Hyatt Gordon will provide Matthew Olsen with a skateboard for the Explore Corps programs.

William Hyatt Gordon, knows the benefits of peace as the basis of long-term economic development and hopes to further participate with Surfing 4 Peace and Explore Corps, as well as and the Daniel Pearl Foundation to create an album called Surfing 4 Peace featuring a techno and rock based mix with Hebrew, Rai, and French elements.

Although, neither William Hyatt Gordon, nor his firm have worked previously in the Middle East, the Surfing 4 Peace project will no doubt help serve as an introduction to the region. Already, a group interested in bringing the Guggenheim Museum to the Port of Jaffa has contacted his firm for a development concept as a part of an economic development plan for the area. Gordon looks forward to supporting peace initiatives through surfing around world and creating the Gordon Atlantic surfboard. Gordon Atlantic Development seeks site for a new surfing championship, one in which they can bring their triple platinum trophy development skills. Jefferys Bay, South Africa, and the North Shore of Oahu are their first choices, but they are open to suggestions.

Cities in the states of Hawaii and California interested in participating in a beach front economic development concept and able to host the National Surfrider Museum should contact Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation with a letter of interest sent to +1-212-202-5206.

For Further Information

Investor Relations/Finance:

Ms. Jocelyn L. Yambao - [email protected]

For Information about Gordon Atlantic, or William Hyatt Gordon

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About Gordon Atlantic Development Corp

Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation pursues both private client and investment-driven real estate development projects in France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Principal United States' markets include Gordon Atlantic Development Corporation's home market, New York, as well as Miami-Dade County, and metropolitan Washington. Private client projects include: hospitals and healthcare facilities; museums, theatres, and economic development projects; projects for the environment, projects for humanity, as well as projects for not-for-profit organizations. Investment projects are focused on hotels, convention centres, media studios, golf courses, ski areas, and the like.

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