C OV E R STOR Y
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nstru o C e r o M e e S l ches Wil
Our Bea
By Peter Roos
Pass-A-Grille Way is much improved after three years of reconstruction. The city has been working to restore its leaky aging sewer system for what seems like a decade. Final sewer work, power undergrounding and the rebuilding of the old Howard Johnsons into a “new” Hilton Garden Inn caused serious traffic backups on southbound Gulf Blvd. and in both directions for most of the past year. We might as well get used to it. Now that the sewer system reconstruction is wrapping up, the heat is about to be turned up on several development and redevelopment plans that have been simmering, waiting for, or pending approval. Construction of the prospective Corey Landings project, 343 luxury apartments at the east end of Corey Avenue, should disrupt few, thanks to the dead-end nature of the location, other than perhaps some of the folks coming to hear the Tom Kats 16-piece Big Band on Monday nights at the Blue Parrot. We should be learning more soon about redevelopment of the Tradewinds Resort property, including the old Coral Reef site, where the 217-room Sugar Sands was proposed five years ago. They were already the largest on Florida’s West Coast and have also since acquired the Alden Suites Resort, adjacent to the Coral Reef property on the north side, which had been owned by the Renfrow family since the 50’s. Mayor Al Johnson has said that he has met with the Tradewinds’ owner to discuss plans for redevelopment, and he likes what he has heard. Veteran hotel developer Kevin Bowden had the Cambria in the heart of Madeira Beach built from scratch. Later this year, he plans to replace the 42-room Schooner with a brand new nine-story, 56-room boutique resort. His investment group had also purchased the Miramar Resort at 4200 Gulf Blvd. in 2017 and hopes to demolish the existing 27-room 1953 motel and build a 7-story, 54-room “Luxury boutique hotel.” As the first project
likely to be built on the sand after the lifting of the sewer hookup moratorium, the Miramar is getting its share of scrutiny. Commissioners have the authority to allocate a limited number of rooms from a pool of development rights in the boutique hotel district. The Miramar needs 15 of those. A resolution authorizing redevelopment of the Miramar Resort at a height greater than 50 feet and density greater than 30 units per acre, including 15 units from the “Boutique Hotel District Density Pool” and rooftop bar, passed unanimously on first reading in February 2021 and became final with approval of a conditional use permit on April 27th, 2021. The Don Cesar Resort is planning to build a 10,000 square foot convention and meeting space over the parking lot at the north side of the historic hotel. Completed in 1929, the resort made it through the great depression thanks to a spring training contract with the New York Yankees. It served as a veteran’s rehab facility after the war and was almost torn down. There are several other redevelopment projects that had been announced, then shelved. Robert Czyszczon of Plaza Beach Resort proposed to be the first resort redeveloped under the city’s new comprehensive plan, but they decided to go retro and embrace the “old Florida feel” of the location. I am hoping that all these developers will be cautious in the selection of their construction partners, to ensure that they are reliable, skilled, environmentally conscious, and preferably, locally based. Here is a sign I would like to see on some of these construction sites. They do great work, have recent experience building on our beach and even more recently on our neighbors’ beaches to the south. Our cover photo this month, the Zota Beach Resort on Long Boat Key in Sarasota, is a recent accomplishment of a locally based, family-owned and run construction company that likely looks a lot like some of ours will. ParadiseNewsFL.com | MARCH 2022
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