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Letter to the editor

Adam's Mark site to be sold

The developer who bought the property to build condos now says a hotel is the best use.

By JOSE CARDENAS, Times Staff Writers
Published November 11, 2007

CLEARWATER - Here's still more proof of the sharp drop in demand for condominiums on Clearwater Beach:

The developer that paid a whopping $31.5-million for the old Adam's Mark Hotel is scrapping plans to build a condo tower on the sand and is trying to sell the property.

And to make the 2.5 acres next to the shimmering Gulf of Mexico more attractive, Taylor Woodrow has submitted new plans to the city to allow a new owner to build a hotel.

"There is no market as a condominium," said Robert Glantz, senior vice president of the U.S. Tower Division of Taylor Woodrow, which is based in England.

"Our choices were to hold or to sell," said Glantz, who is based in the company's North America corporate office in Bradenton. "If we want to sell, we have to change it to something that is marketable."

A potential hotel with 230 rooms - the old Adam's Mark had 217 - is good news for city officials and business leaders who lament the loss of overnight lodging for tourists who feed the beach economy.

"We are completely committed to seeing as many hotel rooms restored" as possible, Mayor Frank Hibbard said. "If another condo is not built on Clearwater Beach, that would be fine."

Like the rest of the county, Clearwater Beach lost numerous hotel rooms that gave way to condo projects during the past five years.

On the beaches, critics bemoaned the arrival of condominium projects because condo owners - whether they live in them or visit occasionally - don't spend as much as tourists on local businesses.

When Taylor Woodrow acquired the hurricane-damaged Adam's Mark two years ago, it was the second-highest known sales price for a property on the beach.

Taylor Woodrow demolished the hotel to make room for the $180-million Indigo Beach Residences and Suites. The West Indies-style project was to have 112 luxury condominiums and 78 condominium-hotel suites at the south end of the BeachWalk promenade now under construction.

But condo sales on the beach have since plummeted, and more than 800 condominiums remain on the market. Visual reminders of the downfall now include Brightwater Drive, riddled with the skeletons of several unfinished projects.

Late last month, Tampa entrepreneur Dr. Kiran Patel said he was dumping condos at his planned Kiran Grand Resort and Spa on S Gulfview Boulevard. Instead Patel and a new Miami-based builder are exploring a project to develop a 250-room hotel with 200 timeshares.

Taylor Woodrow pulled the plug on Indigo Beach Residences and Suites this spring and refunded deposits to people who had signed contracts.

At the time, a company official said that Taylor Woodrow intended to keep the property and eventually build something more profitable.

Since then, the company has decided that the "highest and best use" for the property in a market saturated with condos is a hotel, Glantz said. But Taylor Woodrow develops condominiums, not hotels.

So the company is seeking approval of its hotel plans from the city to attract a buyer who may see land approved for hotel use as a good investment.

Recent talks with Wyndham Hotels and Resorts officials did not produce a contract, Glantz said. He would not say whether anyone else has shown an interest or how much Taylor Woodrow is asking for the property.

The proposed new plan submitted to the city calls for 230 units. Each unit would be sold as one-week-per-year time-shares to 52 buyers.

Such arrangement essentially would give the facility a hotel designation that would offer a new owner various ways to rent the rooms as long as people don't stay more than 30 days.

The site could end up as a normal hotel where anyone could check in for a short stay.

"If they are going to rent out the remaining units for less than a week that would be optimal," said Sheila Cole, director of the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce. "The most important thing is that we have hotel-style rooms available."

Jose Cardenas can be reached at jcardenas@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4224.

[Last modified November 10, 2007, 22:23:29]