Lakewood Ranch Residence Inn may be on the way after long wait

LAKEWOOD RANCH -- More hotel rooms are likely coming to Lakewood Ranch's primary retail and medical business district, albeit after a bit of a wait.

XSS Hotels, a New Hampshire hotel development and investment company, is pursuing approval of a final site plan to build a Marriott Residence Inn across the street from Lakewood Ranch Medical Center. It first submitted application documentation for the project in early 2013.

The company has owned the vacant, 3.25-acre property on Health Park Way through a related company since late 2007. It purchased the land from Lakewood Ranch master developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch for $2.25 million.

According to Manatee County records, XSS plans to construct a 130-room hotel in two phases. The first would build 100 rooms. Thirty more rooms would be added later. XSS submitted its new final site plan documentation for the hotel on March 30.

Once built, the hotel would join three others in the University Parkway and Town Center Parkway area. A Fairfield Inn & Suites and a Holiday Inn are already operating there. A five-story Hyatt Place hotel is under construction nearby, adjacent to the Fairfield. That property is expected to bring 122 more hotel rooms to the Lakewood Ranch market.

Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Residence Inn has "been discussed for many years." The permitting history on the project dates back almost nine years. XSS submitted its first set of plans for the Residence Inn in late 2014.

Officials with XSS did not respond to several requests to comment on the hotel project.

County planning officials are still in the commenting phase of the site planning process. Planners are working with XSS' engineering company on two aspects of the project, utility ease

ments and assuring there is adequate water flow for a new fire hydrant. A number of new buildings have been built around the project site since it was first proposed, so the county and the developer's engineers must make certain enough water volume and pressure remain to fight a fire there.

The project paperwork had largely sat idle since the initial application from the developer.

Local tourism officials have long pointed to what they say is a shortage of hotel rooms in Manatee County. Falcione said only 15 percent of approximately 6,200 short-term rentals in the county are hotel or motel rooms.

As spring break wound down late last month, about 97 percent of the 6,200 short-term rental units in the county were occupied, he said.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch Residence Inn may be on the way after long wait ."