Legacy Hotel opens soon at IMG. You don’t have to be an athlete to stay there

One year to the day after IMG Academy broke ground on its five-story, 150-room Legacy Hotel, officials gave the media a sneak peek of the soon-to-open upscale boutique facility.

General manager Geoff Gaumer led the tour of the new hotel, located on IMG property at 5650 Bollettieri Blvd., adjacent to the main campus.

Legacy Hotel, built at a cost of more than $27.1 million, is scheduled to open Oct. 11, but is already taking reservations, Gaumer said.

Workers were busy putting finishing touches on the facility, which is designed not only to host IMG Academy guests and clients, including visiting teams, coaches, athletes, staff and parents, but also provide a go-to destination for others in the Bradenton community.

On the fifth floor, the Legacy Hotel offers its executive king and double queen rooms with additional in-room health and wellness amenities.

The Legacy’s standard king deluxe rooms cover more than 500 square feet. Each room is furnished with a 49-inch interactive television, Keurig coffee maker, Gilchrist & Soames bathroom amenities and plush luxury linens. The rooms can be connected to the room next door.

Also offered are standard and double rooms, and ADA-accessible rooms.

Many of the views look out on the IMG Academy quadrangle and campus, including dorms and stadium.

Other hotel features include more than 5,100-square-feet of flexible meeting space with on-site catering and audio visual. The 4,800-square-foot ballroom can accommodate up to 300 people, Gaumer said.

At the Icon Eatery and Bar, the menu features fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Because the hotel is off-campus it has amenities that won’t be found elsewhere at IMG Academy, including craft cocktails, local beers and Starbucks coffee.

The restaurant will serve American cuisine with global influences, recognizing that Legacy’s guests will come from everywhere, Gaumer said.

While IMG Academy offers a boarding school, college and pro training, team training, youth camps and more, Legacy Hotel is designed to be a more casual environment.

Guests may not even notice it, but the hotel will have a specific scent, lights that change throughout the day, and music that is upbeat in the morning, and more relaxing later in the day, Gaumer said.

The restaurant is expected to open a week or two after the first guests register.

Drayton Saunders, president of Michael Sanders & Company, was one of those who toured the hotel on Tuesday.

“If you look at the IMG story, starting with Nick Bollettieri, it was all about exceptional performance. That philosophy is not lost in how they added value for their clients,” Saunders said.

Bollettieri opened the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in 1978, training many of the superstars of the tennis world. IMG purchased the academy in 1987.

Legacy Hotel is not affiliated with any hotel brand or chain.

“We are our own brand. It’s something we came up with from scratch. The team we have here is ready to execute,” Gaumer said.

For more information, visit imglegacyhotel.com.

This story was originally published October 2, 2018 at 2:33 PM.