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A $350-million beachside dream
By JENNIFER FARRELL, Times Staff Writer
CLEARWATER -- A $350-million luxury condominium and retail complex proposed along the Intracoastal Waterway would transform a dilapidated stretch of north Clearwater Beach from a rundown patchwork of aging motels into a swank playground for the wealthy. The Bluewater Isle Resort would span roughly 10 acres straddling East Shore Drive and include four high-rise towers, 200 feet apart, bordered by restaurants, boutiques and three-story townhouses. Condo units would start at $735,000 and would include private elevator access and plasma television screens that would drop from the ceilings. And resident golfers could choose to ride a fleet of his-and-her vehicles the developers would buy to and from nearby Belleair Country Club (Hummers for the men, Lincoln Town Cars for the women). The project, potentially the largest in city history, also includes a laundry list of public amenities, including a meandering 25-foot-wide waterfront boardwalk, a 200-slip marina, an amphitheater, 800 ground floor parking garage spaces and a lighthouse built to hold a small city history museum. And Clearwater developer Bob Metz has promised to donate space for a beach library on a revamped Papaya Street and to inject some cash into the Jolley Trolley service. "We're really trying to lift up this shantytown community," he said. "It's an eyesore." In an interview Tuesday with the St. Petersburg Times, Metz and his development partners revealed details and conceptual renderings of their grand plan for the beach. But despite the promises, city officials have stopped short of endorsing the megadeal. For starters, Metz hasn't submitted formal plans for approval. In preliminary talks, at least two of the towers have been discussed at 150 feet high. Beach By Design, a plan for construction on Clearwater Beach, limits buildings in the area to 100 feet, meaning Metz's proposal could require an amendment to the guidelines. "What they're proposing, we believe, is inconsistent with the Beach By Design plan with regard to height," city Planning Director Cyndi Tarapani said Wednesday. Tarapani said the project also outstrips density requirements, meaning developers would have to buy property that could be developed and leave it alone, transferring its building rights to the Bluewater Isle project. Currently, the property is zoned for tourism, which allows 30 residential units per acre. The developers say they intend to acquire other property for that purpose. Also, Metz said he is negotiating to buy one to two acres of contiguous property on Poinsettia Street. He deflected, for the time being, questions about height. "We haven't finished the design," he said. "We're not there yet." He said he intends to submit his plans to City Hall by next month.
For Metz, 60, a graduate of Clearwater High School and owner of Metco Real Estate & Insurance, the project is a chance to open up public access to the Intracoastal waterfront and transform a section of his hometown. Plans include 350 to 420 residential units, with floor-to-ceiling windows, front and back, providing views of the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty to 24 townhomes, at 2,800 square feet, would go for at least $560,000. Metz, who learned to swim on Clearwater Beach, said he feels an obligation to clean up the area. "We've been listening for a long time to what's happening in the city," he said. "We have our ears open to hear what the community wants." Metz said he will ask the city to consider managing the marina and parking garages in return for splitting the profits. He plans to build a two-story restaurant with a dock to house a new Frenchy's restaurant, and he is negotiating to keep the restaurant chain's commercial fishing operation in the area, including a new glassed-in fish market for public viewing. Under the proposal, Poinsettia would get new curbs, sidewalks and a center turn lane, and talks are ongoing about maintaining the entrance to East Shore from the causeway to allow convenient access to Poinsettia. Metz said he will negotiate to acquire city property on the south end of the development for landscaping and infrastructure upgrades. "The community, I'm hoping, will buy into this," he said. "We're trying to get people to tell us what they think." If completed, the project would be one of the most expensive in Tampa Bay area history. By comparison, International Plaza in Tampa cost about $200-million, and recent major projects such as BayWalk in St. Petersburg and Centro Ybor in Tampa were built for under $50-million each. "It's a major accomplishment if they're able to do it," said David Healey, executive director of the Pinellas Planning Council. "It would be the kind of major redevelopment that Clearwater Beach is seeking and looking to accomplish." However, he said, it would be "immensely complex" to pull off. City Commissioner Hoyt Hamilton praised Metz's effort, but stopped short of backing the proposal fully, citing concerns about height. "I seriously doubted that anybody would have the ability to even put together what he's put together," said Hamilton. "Hats off to them." Assembling the land -- more than 10 acres with 64 property owners -- has been a yearlong project, said Metz's partner, Bill Sturtevant. "We have them all but about two or three," he said Tuesday. "In the event that we don't reach agreement ... we'll just cut them out and build around them and live happily ever after." Sturtevant, 60, said the project has been in designs for the past six months. Developers haven't starting marketing to retailers, but Sturtevant said they hope to attract outlets like Starbucks and Panera Bread. An upscale steakhouse would also fit nicely, he said. "Anything you can get out on U.S. 19," Sturtevant said, "we really don't want." Sturtevant went to high school and the University of Mississippi with Metz before moving to Atlanta to become a banker. David Adkins, 44, who moved to Tampa recently from Vancouver, rounds out the development team as marketing director. Metz plans to buy the land through his North Mandalay Investment Group, develop it with another company called Bluewater Isle Development LLC, then market the units through its sales arm, Bluewater Isle Real Estate. He calls the group "Team Terrific." High tech marketing initiatives include online virtual reality tours of model units and comparisons of floor plans from competing condo developments on the beach. Metz said his group has identified a list of 164,000 potential buyers from across the Northeast and Midwest, most of whom are near retirement and looking for a second home or an investment. City Manager Bill Horne stressed the need to move forward cautiously. "For a while, this project was moving fast," he said. "We've slowed it down. It's really not ready to come to us as a formal application." Still, Horne said he is looking forward to receiving detailed plans from Metz. "We're excited at the opportunity," he said. "But we know that there are still a lot of questions to be answered." -- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or farrell@sptimes.com ">farrell@sptimes.com .
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