North-end residents size up hotel plan

Floridays Development Co. officials heard a barrage of criticism during a March 15 neighborhood outreach meeting, where they discussed their proposal to build a 120-room hotel on eight north-end parcels with a combined 2.62 acres.

The meeting drew approximately 50 north-end residents to the Longboat Key Center for the Arts. Many worried that hotel guests would spill into neighboring residential areas and overrun the public beach access across the street.

“I don’t want a hundred people walking by my house every day,” said Gene Jaleski, a Longbeach Village resident, at the meeting.

James Brearley, Floridays project manager, assured those in attendance that their concerns would be taken into account during the design and planning phase of the development. 

But he stressed the need for 120 hotel rooms to create a viable project.

In an email to the Longboat Observer the following Monday, Brearley wrote:

“A 120-room project is required to build and operate a quality project in terms of both the ‘look and feel,’ and service that this site requires. The last thing we want to do is to develop a project that is not economically sustainable or can’t afford to maintain the upkeep and service required for a high-end quality hotel experience.”

At the meeting, Brearley and Floridays CEO Angus Rogers provided details about plans.

The three-story (over parking) hotel would be upscale, according to Rogers. It would have a three-star rating, but only due to a lack of room service, which all four-star hotels must have. 

Nightly room rates would average around $200.

The hotel would include approximately 140 parking spaces to accommodate guests and around 20 employees per shift.

Outgoing Commissioner Pat Zunz, who has advocated for north-end revitalization, warned residents who suggested waiting for a developer who would build something smaller on the properties.

“It’s been 10 years since anyone’s been interested in buying those properties,” she said, citing higher property values for owners on the north end as a potential benefit of the project.

The parcels that Floridays seeks to develop include the vacant bank and gas station properties in the 6900 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Brearley said that without a development like the one Floridays is proposing, retail development on the north end would be impossible. He expressed hope that the project could reinvigorate nearby businesses, such as those in the struggling Whitney Beach Plaza.

Longtime Village resident Winthrop Yerkes said he hopes Floridays will provide a buffer for the historic neighborhood.

“I don’t want the entrance gate to my Village being a hotel,” he said.

Residents worried that hotel guests would bring more traffic and congestion to the Key. They said any hotel should include a restaurant component to reduce car trips.

Brearley reported Monday to the Longboat Observer that Floridays had revised its plan.

“Our revised plans will allow for a full-service coffee bar, full breakfast, and a poolside bar and grill for use by both hotel guests and local residents,” he wrote in an email.

Other changes, according to Brearley, could include additional parking under the building, as well as a buffer along Broadway.

Floridays seeks an August referendum to rezone the properties for tourism use, which allows for six units per acre, because the town’s charter requires voters to approve any density increase. Floridays could then apply for additional units from a pool of 250 tourism units that voters approved in a 2008 referendum.