Convention center hotel project is officially dead

The Manatee County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday officially plunged the proverbial fork into the planned 250-room Sheraton hotel at the Bradenton Area Convention Center by authorizing the county administrator to terminate the contract.

“The hotel developer did not fulfill their terms in advance of their deadline so the county administrator terminated the agreement,” said Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “At this point, we’ll get through the holidays and regroup with the county administrator’s office at that time.”

The project has been spiraling toward its end for months. It essentially was dead as early as September when financial issues became apparent and the developer was being less than forthcoming over land acquisition issues. It was a complicated deal between the county, the city of Palmetto and the developer to begin with, and when a key domino fell in failing to acquire a crucial piece of property, all of the remaining pieces were sure to take a tumble.

Troubles began as early as August when project director Anthony DeRusso, Improvement Network Development Partners director, revealed he was having issues acquiring property, that a new contractor had to be hired and that the project was having some overall financial issues.

While the developer is out, Falcione isn’t giving up on the project.

“I truly believe in my heart that this market is ripe for a convention center hotel,” he said. “I look forward to the day when I see one built here but in the meantime, we’ll regroup after the holidays.”

The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency was a critical partner in the deal and was to provide $8.5 million in exchange for several things, including the land the hotel was going to be on to collect property tax, road construction improvements and other property acquisitions. CRA Director Jeff Burton said as long as the city and the county are willing to try again, so is the CRA.

“The CRA thinks it’s in the best interest of the county and the CRA to have a hotel at the convention center,” Burton said. “We’ve learned a lot of lessons about getting a hotel there and obviously this opportunity didn’t pan out, but the whole point is to get the hotel. Regardless of how we feel, whether we are frustrated or whatever, the goal is the same.”

Palmetto Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant said the city will be a willing partner if the county wants to try again.

“Certainly we still want a hotel over there,” she said. “It’s a very viable project, of course, if it works out correctly. I think because of the participation agreement, there were probably some steps we took we think were positive and may tighten up on some of those. But overall, everybody worked toward the same goal. It’s just unfortunate that it wasn’t in the cards the way everybody had hoped.”

City attorney Mark Barnebey said if there is a second time, at least many of the documents are in place to simplify the process, which had been difficult at times. Burton said it can’t be avoided when multiple government agencies are working on the same project.

“I’m used to dealing with multiple private partners and dealing with multiple government partners is a little different,” Burton said. “Each of us has boards and government can take longer because we have rules and regulations that have to be followed. In the private sector, decisions can be made quickly.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Convention center hotel project is officially dead."