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Condo-hotel wins approval
Some neighbors object because the new Gulfview structure will be 100 feet tall.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published March 23, 2005
CLEARWATER - S Gulfview Boulevard is going upscale.
The Community Development Board on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to replace a Quality hotel on the Clearwater Beach boulevard with a $50-million condo-hotel.
The Clearwater Grande development would consist of 91 suites, 89 of them two-bedroom units and two of them three-bedroom penthouses. The units would be individually owned, with prices going from $600,000 to $1.6-million.
Unit owners would be allowed to occupy their homes for only a month each year. For the balance of the time, the units would be rented as hotel rooms. The business would most likely be operated as a Hilton Homewood Suites.
The board approved the project over objections from residents in nearby Continental Towers. Their main opposition was the proposed 100-foot height of the building. While the Quality hotel has 91 units, it is only 50 feet tall.
"I think you're setting yourself up for a series of 10-story buildings side by side with faces going east to west, which is going to create a wall of buildings along the beach," said Nathaniel Hightower, the attorney representing the Continental Towers Association. "I don't think that's in the best interest of the community or in the interests of all the adjoining owners."
Clearwater attorney Ed Armstrong, who represents developer Steve Page, said the condo owners have no right to a view across someone else's land.
"There has been voiced a concern that too many condos are being built at the expense of the hotel stock," he said. "This is taking 91 units and replacing them with 91 units."
The Community Development Board agreed.
"The fact of the matter is this is within the law," said board member J.B. Johnson. "This building can be built. I will make a motion that we approve."
Construction on Clearwater Grande is scheduled to begin near the end of the year. The project should take 18 months to complete.
Megan Scott can be reached at 445-4167 or mscott@sptimes.com
[Last modified March 23, 2005, 00:55:18]
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