Work at Resort at Longboat Key Club nearing completion

Work on the Resort at Longboat Key Club's south entrance should be completed in mid-December, said Robert Goodman, the president of the Longboat Key Association. 

The project had been slated for completion around Thanksgiving, but builders ran into some difficulty in relocating sewer lines in concert with the road construction, Goodman said, setting the timeline back. 

“A couple of minor problems, that’s all,” he said.

The project includes rerouting the south entrance roadway to the north, installing new landscaping and building a water feature along Longboat Club Drive. A new gate house, in line with the new roadway, and a new sign at Gulf of Mexico Drive, which town records list as a $100,000 component, are also part of the construction.

Adjacent to the road project, changes are also planned for the golf club area. Construction of a 10,158-square-foot cart barn and a new pro shop will replace structures built in 1976. Plans filed with the town show the pro shop will be built within two years.

The redesigned driving range is being moved north to make room for the rerouted Longboat Club Road which includes widening the intersection with Gulf of Mexico Drive to 110 feet, where a traffic circle could eventually be built.

The moving of the road has been described as an “in-furtherance” of the Resort at Longboat Key Club’s plans to someday convert 300 residential units within Islandside to tourism units and build a $100 million hotel south of Longboat Club Road. The proposed hotel would be 300 rooms, include 93 condominiums and 10 to 12 meeting rooms.

The May 2015 referendum for the hotel was approved by 1,948 votes in favor, 53%, to 1,721 votes, 47%, opposed the referendum. To date, plans for the hotel, which would sit along New Pass, have not been submitted to the town.