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By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADAThe plan shows two buildings, one on each side of the road, a skywalk connecting them. But officials are leery about the skywalk.
INDIAN SHORES - A landmark restaurant shut its doors forever a few weeks ago.
In its place, if town officials approve, will rise the Atlantis West Beach Club, a proposed $120-million condominium project spanning both sides of Gulf Boulevard and encompassing more than 4 acres centered on the site of Fathoms Island Grill, formerly the Hungry Fisherman restaurant.
Town officials and residents will get their first official look at the Atlantis West plans during a planning and zoning board hearing at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6. The board's recommendation will be considered by the City Council at 7 p.m. Dec. 12.
The project is the brainchild of Bill Karns, whose company, William Karns Enterprises, has been building on the beaches for decades.
"This is a really exciting and unique project that will offer amenities new to the area," says Karns, who describes the West Indies-style architecture as "Key West on steroids." Architectural treatments include metal roofs, ironwork balconies, and shutters.
The project will include 64 condominiums, averaging about 3,000-square-feet and selling for a minimum of about $1.2-million. The six-floors-over-parking building on the east side of Gulf Boulevard will include traditional condo units, as well as multistory villas on the Intracoastal Waterway. Each villa will have its own private swimming pool and courtyard.
The east portion of the complex includes a parking structure topped by three tennis courts and facing Gulf Boulevard. The building on the west side will include a gymnasium, billiard room, lounge, game room and library.
The building on the west side of Gulf Boulevard includes four 4,700-square-foot luxury penthouse-style condo units that will encompass an entire floor. The building also will include two floors of "cabanas" assigned to condominium owners, featuring kitchenettes and private rooms for changing and entertaining.
Amenities for the complex include boat slips on the Intracoastal Waterway and 100-feet of beachfront on the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposed skywalk or pedestrian bridge connecting the two buildings on either side of Gulf Boulevard may not receive much support from town officials.
"Several people have told me they won't go along with it," says the town's building official, Larry Nayman. "The developers do have the ability to put in a traffic light and official crosswalk if they are willing to pay for it."
Karns says his company has not yet decided which way it will go, but prefers the safety of the skywalk for residents and families who frequently will go back and forth between the two buildings.
In either case, Karns will need to get permits from both the city and the state Department of Transportation. The project itself meets all city codes, Karns says.
The Fathoms Island Grill was known for more than 30 years as the Hungry Fisherman, a landmark restaurant in Indian Shores. The owners still operate several other restaurants on the beaches, including the Salt Rock Grill in Indian Shores, Gator's Cafe and Saloon in Treasure Island, and Snapper's Sea Grill in St. Pete Beach.
Indian Shores Mayor Don Taber remembers eating at the Hungry Fisherman in the 1960s and still owns a painting purchased at the restaurant 26 years ago.
"We will miss it, but redevelopment seems to be the direction we are going. This is one of the largest pieces of land left in the city. Karns' project is going to be a beautiful complex."
Nayman says the loss of restaurants like the Fathoms is almost inevitable, given the rising value of property on the beaches.
"It's all economics. When land gets to a certain point of value, it is worth it to property owners to sell," says Nayman.
Karns says he originally wanted to build a mixed-use project that would include a restaurant and upscale retail stores in addition to condominiums, but was blocked by the town's comprehensive plan and zoning regulations.
Nayman confirmed this, explaining that development rules put in place decades ago restrict mixed use projects that include commercial use to covering no more than 30 percent of the land. And, he said, as the number of dwelling units increases, the land-coverage allowed is reduced even further.
The town frequently gets calls from developers interested in making offers for restaurant sites and inquiring about zoning and redevelopment regulations, according to Nayman.
"Developers are caught between a rock and a hard place," he says. "Mixed use is possible here, but it is uneconomical. I don't see this (conversion of small motels and restaurants to condominiums) stopping unless there is a national economic downturn," he says.
In just the last year, construction on 13 new condominiums was started in Indian Shores. When all these projects are completed, they will add 95 new living units to the town's housing inventory.
The increasing conversion to condominiums is affecting rental properties, as well. The city's 40-plus-year-old Indian Pass Apartments has been rechristened the Barefoot Beach Resort and is in the process of conversion to more than 140 condominiums.
Nayman said there is no way of knowing whether the town's present 50-50 mix of permanent and transient residents will change as more upscale condominiums are built. But one thing is certain: the face of Indian Shores is changing.
"It is definitely going to be a different way of life here. The beaches are going to be just for the rich," Nayman says.