Hotel chain may build on Gulf-to-Bay

The 127-room Fairfield Inn would be geared toward business travelers, not resort guests.

By AMELIA DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 6, 2000

CLEARWATER -- A major chain plans to build a five-story hotel on a busy intersection at the eastern edge of the city.

Preliminary plans call for a Fairfield Inn with 127 rooms on 4 acres of now-vacant land on the northwest corner of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and McMullen-Booth Road. A restaurant would be built on part of the parcel.

The site, near the overpass of the Bayside Bridge, formerly held the Kapok mobile home park.

"We believe (the hotel) will be a good use for that corner," said Bob Keller, an assistant city manager in charge of economic development. "Fairfield has a nice product."

Representatives from Northside Engineering on Belcher Road in Clearwater are working with city officials on the hotel's design. Housh Ghovaee, co-owner of Northside, said the amount of necessary buffering and the height of the proposed hotel are still to be determined.

"We hope to have it finished in time for the beginning of the 2001 (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) football season," Ghovaee said.

John Asmar, planning and development services administrator, said so far the city has had only informal talks with representatives from Northside.

"We are waiting for a formal application," Asmar said. "We believe it is a good use for that property, but obviously there would be conditions."

Ghovaee said the hotel would be designed for business travelers and not as a resort hotel. Benderson Development, also of Clearwater, is the developer.

Michael G. Meidel, chief executive and president of the Greater Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, said he thinks a Fairfield Inn "would work well on that site. It is close to the airport and would be a good central base of operation for someone doing business in both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties."

Meidel said people who live in residential neighborhoods north and south of the site may protest the plans. Jack Alvord, spokesman and president of the Historic Bayview Association on the south side of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, said his organization will not object. "It is not a part of the historic Bayview area," he said.

However, with plans under way for the construction of Calvary Baptist Church and Christian High School just to the north of the hotel tract, Alvord said, "Someone ought to take a look at the traffic issue." Fairfield Inns is a subsidiary of Marriott International, the world's second largest hotel operator. Marriott operates 1,900 hotels worldwide under 12 brand names.

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