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1 resort, 5 plans
Resort's design modified, altered, revised, changed and tweaked before, whew, winning final approval.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published February 21, 2005
CLEARWATER BEACH - While the arguments for and against a towering resort south of the roundabout have not changed much, the concept of the hotel sure has.
In five years, five different versions of what the hotel would look like were proposed. (There were probably more, but these are the ones we could remember.)
The latest, introduced Thursday, was the one City Council members finally approved. At 350 hotel rooms and 75 condominiums, it's a cousin to the March 2004 design, with the north and south edges stepped down, like a wedding cake.
The building has always been big - 500 feet wide, 150 feet tall and 757,000 square feet.
But the details have slowly evolved.
The first design was built to include a 400-car parking garage and a pedestrian bridge over Coronado Drive.
Thursday's design includes 15 public parking spaces and a bridge to the beach.
After the City Council approved the project 3-2 last week, the architect of the latest concept walked out of the council chambers. He grabbed the shoulder of a colleague and took a deep breath.
At last.
[Last modified February 21, 2005, 01:32:19]
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