City officials are cautious but hopeful that Tony Markopoulos' $100-million plan can anchor a new Clearwater Beach.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published March 3, 2004
[Special to the Times]
Markopoulos' proposed $100-million complex would contain high-end hotel rooms, condominiums and retail space and replace the aging Day's Inn, Beach Towers, Spy Glass and Golden Beach motels.
CLEARWATER - A beach hotelier has filed plans to build a $100-million luxury condo and hotel resort after nine months of sometimes contentious negotiations with the city.
Tony Markopoulos's Clearwater Beach project would include 350 hotel rooms, 75 condominiums and 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The project, which also would feature retail, restaurants, banquet rooms and night clubs, would replace Markopoulos' Day's Inn, Beach Towers, Spy Glass and Golden Beach motels south of the roundabout.
While Markopoulos has pressed for concessions like street closures in the past, now he's chiefly asking for more units than current rules allow. Such a concession has already been granted to the developers of the Marriott Seashell resort planned next door.
City officials, who rejected Markopoulos' plans for an even bigger beach development nearly three years ago, expressed caution. But clearly they are keeping their fingers crossed.
Mayor Brian Aungst said that if an agreement can be ironed out, the development would be a tremendous boost to the city's Beach By Design redevelopment program and Beach Walk, an ambitious transformation of the aging south end of the beach into a gleaming public promenade.
"It will get a us a kick-start in Beach by Design and Beach Walk, and that's what we really need," Aungst said. "If we can get this going, it will be a catalyst to the remarkable transformation of that block."
Some disagreement about management and traffic control, however, remain.
Commissioners hoped the hotel would bear the name of a national chain, or at least be run by an independent management company with experience operating and marketing high-end properties.
But Markopoulos has firmly refused those options and said they could be a waste of money.
"I don't think I need management after 40 years in this business," said Markopoulos."It's a better use of money to market your property yourself."
Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone said the city's key concern revolves around maintaining the quality of the resort. That could could be accomplished by providing the same type of amenities and services provided by hotels such as Ritz-Carlton or Marriott, Stone said.
Ed Hooper, a consultant and spokesman for the project, described the project as a three-star resort with some of the amenities of a four- or five-star hotel. The development would have features such as concierge service, a spa and a landscaped pool deck, with a splash pool and morning pool, he said. It would also have classical grand architecture with punched window openings, accented with balcony treatments and trim.
Markopoulos previously requested that the city limit traffic on Gulfview Boulevard surrounding his resort to one-way, and to close Gulfview Boulevard from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily.
Both proposals met resistance from officials and were dropped.
Hooper said one of the most recent challenges was accommodating new federal flood zone maps that changed what can be built along the coastline. Markopoulos revised original plans to raise the bottom floor to 14 feet above ground level to better clear the new rules, Hooper said.
Stone said city officials hope to iron out an agreement with Markopoulos by Thursday. If no agreement can be reached, the City Commission will make the final decision.
Markopoulos and officials say getting to this point meant give-and-take on both sides. Officials would contribute 250 units from the city's density pool on the beach if Markopoulos would help pay for the construction of Beach Walk on the north and west side of the resort.
If both parties can make the project a reality it has the potential to revitalize an aging resort market on the beach, Stone said.
"This would be the kind of project that could really reposition Clearwater Beach and the tourist market," he said.
Markopoulos said that challenge attracted him to the project.
"It comes to a point where money doesn't mean anything. It's a challenge. If it was just money, I could renovate," Markopoulos said. "The city wins, the public wins and we accomplish our dreams."
