- April 8, 2026
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Lakewood Ranch continues to reign as the top-selling, multigenerational, master-planned community in the United States, so naturally people want to visit.
Attractions like Premier Sports Campus inside Lakewood Ranch and attractions like Mote SEA just beyond its boundaries make the area even more appealing to visitors. And events like the Senior PGA Championship, hosted by The Concession Golf Club later this month, are generating national attention.
Even so, there are just four hotels inside the boundaries of Lakewood Ranch.
That's just for now because five more hotels are in various planning stages.
Three of the four current hotels — Fairfield by Marriott, Homes2Suites by Hilton and Hyatt Place — are tucked away on Exchange Way off Town Center Parkway. It’s a location where you might only know the hotels exist because they have been pulled up in an internet search.
Commissioner George Kruse likes the addition of hotels to a community because “they're not overly intensive and they pay a ton of taxes.” Hotels don’t cause a lot of traffic or overburden infrastructure.
He noted that businesses will stay and expand in an area when their executives have places to stay. Additionally, hotels often offer amenities to residents by way of community meeting rooms, restaurants or day passes for a pool. They also benefit local businesses.
Restaurants, salons, a spa, grocery store and pharmacy are all within a 10-minute walk of the three-hotel block on Exchange Way, and a gas station is just a five-minute drive.
So it makes sense to Amanda Zipperer, director of property management and leasing for Lakewood Ranch Commercial, that three of the new hotels will be built on Town Center Parkway, just around the corner from the three hotels on Exchange Way.
“Hotels benefit from being located near one another,” Zipperer said. “As part of the community’s broader vision, it was essential to establish a cohesive lodging node. Clustering along Interstate 75 was intentional, as it creates a critical mass of accommodations that attracts travelers and reinforces the area as a regional destination.”
Zipperer added that proximity drives performance, and each hotel will serve a different price point and guest profile.
Hotels offer a wide variety of amenities, services and price points. There are budget, luxury, boutique and extended stay hotels. On top of that, most big hotel chains offer reward systems that attract travelers.
"Lakewood Ranch is massively growing," Kruse said. "And we don't have many hotels off the beach. Sarasota has hotels downtown, off Stickney Point Road and along U.S. 41. We don't have that here (in Manatee County)."
The three hotels being planned for Town Center Parkway, which is right next door to the Manatee County Administration Building, are LivSmart Studios by Hilton, Candlewood Suites, and Hyatt Studios.
The existing hotels on Exchange Way offer a total of 317 rooms. When completed, the hotels on Town Center Parkway will offer an additional 358 rooms.
Zipperer said LivSmart is the closest to construction but couldn’t provide a set start date. Manatee County issued a letter approving the final site plan Jan. 9.
The 4-story, 119-room hotel will be built across the street from the Manatee County Administration Building on 4.4 acres.
Plans for Candlewood Suites and Hyatt Studios were submitted to Manatee County as one project on 8.44 acres directly to the south of the county administration building. The pre-application meeting was held in October.
Both hotels will be four stories. Candlewood Suites will offer 120 rooms, and Hyatt Studios will offer 119 rooms.
Straight across University Parkway from Exchange way is Lakewood Ranch's Corporate Park, where the fourth Lakewood Ranch hotel sits.
Even Hotel on Lake Osprey Drive offers 128 rooms, a full-service bar and an outdoor pool.
A 103-key StudioRes by Marriott is also planned for the Corporate Park. Rooms will span two buildings at 6641 and 6645 Professional Parkway.
The chain offers one- and two-bedroom studios that feature a lounge area, full-size refrigerator, stovetop and microwave with an onsite fitness center, laundry facility, work spaces and self-service food options.
The first StudioRes opened in Fort Myers in June 2025 and two more have since opened in Newman, Georgia and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
While the start date for construction is unknown at this time, the Business Observer reported in July 2025 that Bask Development, a Chicago-based hotel development firm, secured a five-year, $12.44 million construction loan to fund the project.
Bask Development is constructing a second hotel in Lakewood Ranch on the southwest corner of Silver Falls Run and White Eagle Boulevard. The brand has not been announced yet.
The project narrative submitted to Manatee County calls the hotel the Silverfalls Business Hotel and describes it as a “business-oriented lodging facility” with 120 rooms.
“The hotel will provide large single-room guest units designed for short-term and extended-stay lodging,” the narrative reads. “Supporting guest amenities will include a breakfast buffet bar and afternoon beverage service for registered guests. Additional amenities are anticipated to include a fitness facility and swimming pool. Limited meeting space may be provided to support business travelers and small group functions.”
While intended for business travelers, the hotel is only a few minutes away from the Premier Sports Campus. According to Elliott Falcione, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Manatee County, the campus generates an approximate $45 million in economic impact hosting sporting events each year.
With Premier bringing in so many visitors, Falcione presented the idea of including a hotel as an optional component of the overall plan for Premier Sports Campus North to commissioners. The north campus is where the library is, and the south campus is where the soccer fields are.
Even though there are no hotels in the area, Kruse voted against including a hotel in the plans for Premier.
However, he clarified that he’s not entirely adverse to building a hotel on the campus. He would prefer to use land in the near vicinity so the county land can continue to be dedicated to recreational facilities, such as baseball fields.
But Kruse's major concern was rezoning the land blindly to allow just any hotel, whether it be too low-end or too high-end. He wants to see a plan first that names the brand and lays out if the hotel will offer meeting space and food and beverage options.
As for a hotel on the corner of Silver Falls Run and White Eagle Boulevard that is not on county-owned land, Kruse is all for it.
“That’s the perfect hotel for Premier," he said. “They can say that they’re catering to business, but there’s no hotel that restricts you only to business.”
