Marriott-owned Spring Hill Suites eyes downtown Bradenton for new $17 million hotel, restaurant

BRADENTON -- Discussions are underway for a new $17 million hotel at the site of the former Manatee Players building across from Bradenton City Hall.

Marriott-owned Spring Hills Suites is eying the property on the Manatee riverfront, City Clerk Carl Callahan said Wednesday.

Bradenton's relationship with the Pittsburgh Pirates is part of the reason for the chain's interest, according to Callahan. Spring Hill Suites is one of two major hotels across from PNC Park, the Pirates' home stadium in Pittsburgh.

"The group responsible for those two hotels is proposing a hotel on the old Manatee Players site," Callahan said. "They've presented a terms sheet that features a 120-unit all-suites hotel."

Other features of the potential project include a nine-story building with a 3,500-square-foot restaurant.

The property is a little over a half-acre, but Callahan told city council members that early drawings show that a hotel that size would fit without encroaching on neighboring properties. Parking would be an issue, however, and the city is being asked to work with the development team to ensure adequate parking. That led to a discussion of building a new city parking garage on a portion of the existing city hall parking lot.

"Parking is one thing we'll have to think about," said Ward 2 Councilman Gene Brown. "We may have to bite the bullet to get downtown development started and build a parking garage."

A four-story parking garage would provide 100 spaces per floor, Callahan said. By only using a portion of the city hall parking lot's 179 spaces, it would provide enough parking for the new hotel, downtown visitors and city employees.

Vice Mayor Gene Gallo cautioned against making any rash decisions, "if you don't utilize the entire possibility of what could go there. I think there should be a public-private partnership formed if a parking garage is built and put residential on top and retail on the bottom. Downtown residential would sell and we need more retail downtown. That would be money well spent."

It's been seven years since the city spent $6.5 million on a parking garage, and there are no updated estimates. Callahan said he has asked a local engineering firm to look at the city hall parking lot and determine an appropriate size.

Ward 3 Councilman Patrick Roff said the city should be careful about being short-sighted, given the future growth potential of downtown and eventual sale of city hall for private development. Roff said it should be at least a five-story parking garage to ensure ample parking in the future.

Callahan said that would be a city council decision, if and when the project moves forward. There was some concern, as well, that a new downtown hotel would take away from the Hampton Inn, for which the city provided $1 million toward development costs. Roff said he would hate to build a hotel that would take away from another property, but he doesn't believe that would be the case.

"Is the demand there for new rooms? I believe there is," he said. "Maybe the Hampton would do even better because we are becoming more of a destination."

Callahan said it's no different than the desire to attract more restaurants into a particular area.

"What you get is the more restaurants you have, the more people come," he said.

Marriott's corporate office sent a letter to the city saying the company has reviewed what Spring Hill Suites wants to do and supports the project, but would not sign off on it until a more detailed site plan is done.

"They aren't ready to sign off completely on it until then," said Callahan. "But it's safe to say that they are very interested."

The city's long-term goal is to sell off city hall for private development along the Manatee riverfront. Brown said a new hotel on that site could be the key in getting more private development interest for the city hall property, which includes the Bradenton Auditorium and Bradenton Police Department.

Mark Young, Herald urban affairs reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7041 or follow him on Twitter@urbanmark2014.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Marriott-owned Spring Hill Suites eyes downtown Bradenton for new $17 million hotel, restaurant ."