First full-service hotel plan approved north of Manatee River

The Manatee County Commission has unanimously approved a development agreement for a 250-room full-service hotel close to Palmetto, adjacent to the Bradenton Area Convention Center.

Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Elliott Falcione, Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore and other officials congratulated the county and the city of Palmetto for coming together to accomplish the first step on a project years in the making.

“This has been going on a long time,” Whitmore said Tuesday as she recalled discussing the issue after her first foray into office in 2006. “And where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

The 27-month development plan, presented by Improvement Network Development Partners LLC, includes a 204,000-square-foot hotel with more than 17,000 square feet of public meeting space, according to the agreement. The 17,000-plus square feet comprise an 8,000-square-foot ballroom and 9,800 square feet of other meeting room space. The hotel will be managed by Starwood Resorts, and INDP LLC hopes to secure Sheraton branding. INDP LLC first needed the commission’s approval before proceeding with a brand agreement.

The cost of the hotel will not be less than $255,000 per room, according to the plan documents.

A 4,100-square-foot, 240-seat restaurant is part of the plan as well as a proposed 150-seat Link@Sheraton cafe. Link@Sheraton cafes serve Starbucks coffee, afternoon refreshments, pastries, sandwiches and salads, according to the agreement. Other proposed amenities include a pool, hot tub, an HDTV lounge area, complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access, a business center and a full-service concierge.

The developers are hoping for a shuttle service to area attractions and a water taxi to Manatee County beaches. Commissioner Vanessa Baugh called the water taxi idea “music to my ears.” Transportation issues and traffic alleviation are a constant battle for Manatee County tourists, residents and officials.

The agreement also includes plans for an 18,000-square-foot entertainment district between the Bradenton Area Convention Center and the hotel. Ideally, the entertainment district will have a restaurant, retail space and possibly a Starbucks, said INDP’s Director of Project Development Anthony DeRusso.

“This is fairly close to our final plan or design, and we realized there needed to be a connector between convention center and hotel,” DeRusso said. “So it all feels like one.”

The project contains 1,635 parking spots for the convention center, entertainment district and hotel.

INDP LLC is a subsidiary of S. Goodman and Associates, one company that submitted a proposal for the project during the county’s invitation to negotiate the process, which opened last September. The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau hotel committee recommended the proposal to Manatee County Administrator Ed Hunzeker in January.

The subsidiary was created as a special-purpose entity, according to meeting documents. The creation of such entities “is typical and considered a standard step necessary in order to achieve financing.”

In order to most effectively finance the project, Deputy County Administrator Dan Schlandt explained that a partnership between the city of Palmetto, Manatee County and the Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency is necessary to take advantage of economic development incentive money.

“In order to be able to do that, they need the increment from the tax base that will be developed there by the project,” Schlandt said. “For that to be a taxable event, the property can’t belong to the county. The county is immune from taxes.”

To solve the tax issue, Manatee County will transfer “basically the northern half” of the convention center property to the city of Palmetto through a fee simple title. As a part of the development agreement, Manatee County entered into a land lease agreement with INDP LLC, which will also be transferred to the city of Palmetto, he said.

The hotel, once finished, will provide approximately 400 permanent jobs in Manatee County. DeRusso was unsure of the number of construction jobs on Tuesday because the company has not completed a full feasibility study, but he estimates it will be in the hundreds.

Commissioner John Chappie called the agreement approval an “oh wow” moment.

“This full-service hotel is a big moment in our community’s history, and it’s huge for Palmetto,” Chappie said. “I understand we have a lot of hurdles to jump over and we’re going to do it.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2016 at 3:34 PM with the headline "First full-service hotel plan approved north of Manatee River."