Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Next, they will need to bring aboard Port Richey's council and state regulators who will scrutinize the plans.
By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 22, 2002
PORT RICHEY -- A group of investors say they are planning to pour $40-million into a gambling boat and hotel operation on the city's waterfront, a vision that could radically change Port Richey and draw thousands of tourists to west Pasco County.
The principal investors -- a management company from Las Vegas and a gambling boat company based in Mayport -- envision a $12-million, 150-suite hotel, offering weeklong packages of golfing, fishing and gambling aboard a $12-million, 1,700-passenger gambling boat.
But before anyone makes reservations, significant obstacles stand in the way:
Finances: With private companies, there are few ways to verify how much capital they have. Dan Fell, a consultant hired by the investment group, said: "We're not hurting for cash. Money is not a problem."
Politics: Port Richey's notoriously volatile politics will come into play, with waterfront development rules yet to be completed and two City Council members steadfast in their opposition to another gambling boat on the Pithlachascotee River.
Regulation: Between state regulators and expert witnesses hired in lawsuits, Port Richey's commercial stretch of the shallow Pithlachascotee River is one of the most scrutinized in the state. State regulators hounded one boat company for years about environmental damage, and a circuit court judge shut down another for the same reason.
Competition: A block away from the proposed site of the hotel is Paradise of Port Richey, the first gambling boat to come to Port Richey and a company that has used lawsuits to defend its turf. Paradise of Port Richey's environmental lawsuit against competitor Stardancer Casino Cruises would have shut down Stardancer if the repossession of Stardancer's main gambling boat hadn't.
Rumors about any number of new gambling boats coming to Port Richey have been going around since the city got its first in 1995.
On Friday, Fell paid Port Richey $3,787.50 for a business tax certificate for a 250-passenger shuttle boat after talking with Port Richey Building Official Bill Sanders about bringing a boat to Port Richey.
Fell on Monday laid out the investors' plan to the Times: a Mardi Gras-themed hotel with a 360-degree view restaurant on the top floor and shallow-draft jet boats to whisk gamblers to the ship at 35 knots. The suites each will have more than 1,000 square feet of space, including two bedrooms.
"It will bring a lot of people to the area," he said. "There's nothing like it in the state of Florida."
The principal companies behind the venture are Top Executive Management LLC of Las Vegas and LaCruise Casino of Mayport, near Jacksonville. Fell and TEM owner Joann Thornton are brother and sister, but Fell said Thornton is a financial backer, and he has been hired as a consultant to get the hotel built.
LaCruise Casino, owned by H. Dewayne Williams, has been operating in Mayport since 1993, and has given tens of thousands of dollars to community projects in that city during its stay there, according to Fell and other published reports.
Fell said the partnership has been following Port Richey's redevelopment efforts, and has molded its plans to conform to the proposed waterfront development rules. He said the partners are also interested in the city building a parking garage, which under some plans could be across the street from the proposed hotel.
The partnership has leased nearly vacant land east of Old Post Road and north of Treadway Drive owned by Don Johnson, a local businessman who owns the nearby Seaside Inn and other properties. Although part of the waterfront area, the land was largely forgotten in talks about waterfront redevelopment; most of the focus was on Paradise and Stardancer's current properties.
Paradise attorney Brian Albritton hadn't heard about potential competitors until the Times called.
"Sure my clients are interested," Albritton said.
Also interested will be the City Council, which has just started putting tax money in a redevelopment fund and shaping plans for what council members want the waterfront to look like.
One of the proponents of waterfront redevelopments -- and one of the most ardent opponents of more gambling boats on the Cotee River -- Mayor Eloise Taylor said Monday that the hotel plan was "wonderful if it is consistent with the waterfront district."
"I have grave concerns about another boat on the river," she said. "The river just can't accommodate heavy big boats with the existing channels."
And although it's very early, Sanders, the city's building official, said there is a long permitting process ahead for the company. The business tax certificate it paid for doesn't mean a hotel is coming, he said.
"They've started the process," Sanders said. "That's not to say they'll be able to carry it through.
"We'll take their money, but that doesn't give them the right to start a business until the other ducks are in a row."
-- Matthew Waite can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247, or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com .