The hotel chain wants to build a 14-story hotel and spa with restaurants, shopping, parking and condominiums.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published August 11, 2004
CLEARWATER - A 250-room Hyatt now is proposed for the Clearwater Beach hotel site that has been stuck in limbo for more than three years, developers announced Tuesday.
The 14-story project, tentatively called the Hyatt Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa, would include restaurants, shopping and 400 public parking spaces for beachgoers.
The $90-million hotel would be the beach's first major resort in years if developers hold to their planned construction timetable, which calls for breaking ground next spring and completion in early 2007.
The developer, Taub Properties Inc. of Tampa, is buying properties south of the roundabout assembled in recent years by Clearwater lawyer William Kimpton and Dunedin-based project planner Richard Gehring.
Brian Taub, president of Taub Properties, said the hotel will be topped by 18 luxury condos. He said his firm will own the property, and the Hyatt chain will manage the hotel.
A Hyatt representative was unable to confirm Hyatt's involvement late Tuesday.
But Clearwater officials voiced excitement.
"It's huge," Vice Mayor Frank Hibbard said. "That would be wonderful to have that quality flag on Clearwater Beach. It would change the whole complexion of things."
Overnight stays will cost $189 a night on average for the year, Taub said. There would be a spa, meeting space and a rooftop pool, as well as 750-space, seven-story enclosed parking garage, with 350 spaces for guests.
"It's a big endeavor, obviously," said Taub, 48, who has developed upscale homes on Harbour Island in Tampa and is completing the $19-million Utopia condominium complex on Sand Key.
The Hyatt proposes to rise from the dust of the planned Marriott Seashell Resort, which failed to take off because of repeated delays, including two protracted court fights.
Taub will buy Seashell's development rights, which includes the Glass House and Beach Place motels along S Gulfview Boulevard. That sale is not finalized, Gehring said.
In order for construction to proceed, Taub said the city must commit to a nearly $15-million make over of the aging south end of Clearwater Beach. The plan, called Beach Walk, would overhaul the promenade that runs along the beach south from the roundabout.
The City Council will take up the issue next week.
"We believe we can identify the money that is necessary to fund the Beach Walk," said City Manager Bill Horne. "(The Hyatt development) is what we felt all along is needed to revitalize Clearwater Beach. We have a project that can be built."
It hasn't always looked that way since city officials approved the development in March 2001.
First, neighboring hotelier Tony Markopoulos sued both the Seashell developers and the city attempting to stop construction.
Markopoulos, who himself hopes to build a $100-million resort on S Gulfview Boulevard, dropped his claim after eight months. But by then, the hotel market had bottomed out following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Marriott later pulled out as a potential operator.
While developers reworked plans and waited for the market to turn around, they suggested turning the resort property into a temporary 155-space parking lot. Approved by the City Council in the summer of 2002, the stopgap measure languished after the owner of the Glass House refused to abide by a 1999 contract to sell the land to developers.
The two sides were locked in a court debate for nearly two years, until June, when an appellate judge ordered the sale for the negotiated price, $3.25-million.
That deal closed last week.
Now Gehring and Kimpton are poised to sell to Taub, who said a finalized deal with Hyatt is 45 days away.
"For Hyatt to consider Clearwater Beach as a location for one of their properties says a lot about what we are and where we're heading," said council member Hoyt Hamilton. "Nobody does it any better," Hamilton said. "That says a lot about where we're going."
