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Pearl on the strand reinvigorates beach

The $100-million Sandpearl Resort is the first of several upscale hotels that will change Clearwater Beach's image.

By Mike Donila, Times Staff Writer
Published August 27, 2007

CLEARWATER - For the first time in 25 years, the Tampa Bay area has a new resort hotel on the beach.

The $100-million Sandpearl Resort opens today on Clearwater Beach with 253 rooms, a spa, two restaurants and a lagoon-style pool. It's part of a $270-million project that includes a nearly sold-out condo tower and 9,000 square feet of stores.

And it is the area's first major beachfront luxury hotel since 1981, when a Hilton opened on Redington Beach.

But the Sandpearl has another distinction. As the first of several new resorts, it will help transform Clearwater Beach and its reputation as a place to stay on the cheap.

Over the past four years, about 5,000 of Pinellas County's 40,000 hotel rooms have disappeared as condominium developers bought and bulldozed old mom-and-pop hotels.

Now the Sandpearl is adding back some of those lost rooms.

But bring your wallet. Room rates start at $159 and go to $950 a night. Clearwater Beach, once a place that catered primarily to the mass market, is seeing the creation of a luxury niche market.

"This is going to add new hotels at a level we haven't experienced before," Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard said. "The restaurants are going to become destinations."

The condo portion of Sandpearl is coming on at a rough time, with some condo owners caught in an overbuilt market looking to shed their units.

But it's another story for hotel room demand. Capitalizing on the moment, more than 40 area projects are in the works - under construction, on the drawing board or somewhere in between.

The Sandpearl's developer, JMC Communities of St. Petersburg, wants its resort to become the region's first hotel to earn five diamonds, the highest rating given by AAA.

Such ratings are based on factors ranging from architecture to amenities to attitude, including whether the maids smile when they pass you in the hall.

The hotel won't fly the flag of a name-brand hotel chain, but JMC has hired an experienced team. Coral Hospitality of Naples manages 35 properties throughout the United States and the Caribbean, including resorts, condominiums and golf courses.

General manager Stuart Arp is a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry, with executive postings from the Midwest to Hawaii for Hyatt and Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts.

Any new resort, even in a desirable setting, needs top-notch managers, analysts say.

"There's always a risk opening a new business, but there is a very strong and high demand for this type of hotel product," said Bob Brymer, director of Florida State University's Dedman School of Hospitality.

"I think the beautiful location is going to offset the risk," he said. "But it's all going to come down to how well it's managed."

- - -

The Sandpearl replaces the historic Clearwater Beach Hotel, which set the standard for luxury in the days when tourists arrived in Clearwater by train.

While the 224,000-square-foot resort dwarfs its 137-room predecessor, builders tried to retain the old hotel's intimate character.

"We're not looking to be pretentious or stuffy," Arp said. "You can walk through the lobby in your shorts. You don't have to dress up. The old hotel had the same people year after year, and we want to continue that same family feel."

Built by a Florida lumberman in 1917, the Clearwater Beach Hotel was one of the county's top destination points for decades. John Travolta, K.D. Lang and Julie Eisenhower were guests.

But by the early 2000s, its rooms were ragged and the concrete patio had begun to disintegrate.

So its owners, the Hunter family of Clearwater, partnered with Mike Cheezem, head of JMC Communities.

"We wanted to continue the legacy of the hotel as we knew it," said minority investor Jeff Hunter, who lives in Iowa but sits on the resort's advisory board.

Cheezem, 54, has built more than 860 condominiums on Clearwater Beach and Sand Key, making him the most successful developer on the beach in recent years.

Cheezem, who built the Hampton Inn & Suites in St. Petersburg in 2003, saw the Sandpearl as a signature project that could help create an identity for the beach - and a link to the past.

"The history of the old Clearwater Beach Hotel didn't end when the doors last closed" two years ago, Cheezem said.

The old hotel's bar was salvaged, polished and placed in the Sandpearl's beachside tavern. Now guests can ring the old dinner bell during a poolside sunset ceremony each night.

The developer also sought a "laid-back look."

Designers selected soft colors, like yellow for the walls, to represent sunshine and they used travertine tile to remind guests of washed sand.

The two-story lobby features two paintings of life on nearby Caladesi Island by Tarpon Springs artist Christopher Still, who grew up combing the beach.

Two huge chandeliers are decorated with scores of conch shells, and a photo montage lays out the beach's history through the use of enlarged old postcards.

The resort will have two restaurants, the Tate Island Grill for barefoot beachside dining, and the more ambitious Caretta on the Gulf, which will feature Caribbean-seasoned seafood, a wood-burning pizza oven and a wine and cheese room.

Sandpearl guests can go for nature hikes on Caladesi Island or take part in cooking, art, stargazing or storytelling programs.

"It's all about providing experiences," Cheezem said. "Every time you come, there should be something new to learn."

- - -

Although the Sandpearl's builders are celebrating, they know competition is coming.

Work has begun on 250 high-end rooms at the Aqualea Resort about a mile to the south. That project is probably about two years from completion.

And Tampa's Dr. Kiran Patel plans to build 350 rooms at the nearby Kiran Grand Resort and Spa. That development, however, has not started.

But rather than saturate the area with too many hotel rooms, the influx could "generate a synergy that brings in larger groups of travelers," FSU's Bob Brymer says.

Cheezem says he's not worried.

"This is something we're long overdue for," he said. "... and with more than 5-million people within an hour's drive, and with the tastes of today's travelers, I think they'll support it."

Mike Donila can be reached at mdonila@sptimes.com or 727 445-4160.

The Sandpearl Resort at a glance

Where: 500 Mandalay Ave., Clearwater Beach.

Opens: 9:30 a.m. today

Cost: $100-million.

Rooms: 203 hotel rooms and 50 condo-hotel units that owners will make available to other guests 11 months of the year. Rooms range from 425 to 1,600 square feet. All come with plasma TVs, refrigerators, wireless Internet access and minibars.

Rates: $159 to $950 a night.

Amenities: 700 feet of beachfront, spa, gym, pool, concierge services, valet parking, children's programs, 33 nearby boat slips (won't be ready for at least a year).

Extra space: 25,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, including the Hunter Ballroom, for special events, conventions, and weddings.

Jobs created: 250.

Project includes: Nearby $140-million, 116-condominum tower that opened in June and is nearly sold out. A $30-million project with stores and 12 more residences that probably won't open for six months.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 22:29:38]