New hotel approved for Margaritaville site
BRADENTON – Changes are approved and a two-building hotel is coming to One Particular Harbour on Perico Island with construction planned to begin in early 2019.
Representatives from owner Minto Communities appeared before members of the Bradenton City Council on Aug. 8 to ask for approval to reduce retail space from 17,600 square feet to 1,520 square feet, the size of the ship’s store already under construction near the dry dock space, and reduce the number of restaurants planned for the site from two at 17,400 square feet to one at 7,500 square feet with 305 seats. The reason for these requested reductions is to convert the space to a hotel covering two buildings on the marina with a combined 131 rooms.
The building facing Manatee Avenue is planned as the primary building with 101 rooms over five stories. The secondary building, located directly in front of the marina, will have 30 rooms over three stories. With the updated site plan receiving unanimous support from both the Bradenton Planning Commission and City Council, Minto plans to break ground in early 2019 on the first COMPASS by Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts.
COMPASS is a new brand underneath the Margaritaville umbrella. It’s being developed by Sarasota-based Floridays Development Company and is planned as an “upscale boutique select-service hotel brand” according to an Aug. 8 press release.
Myra Schwarz, the city’s Planning and Development Coordinator, said the site plan amendment was found compatible with the Bradenton Comprehensive Plan and is compatible with the surrounding area. The project was approved July 18 in a unanimous vote by city planning commissioners. Schwarz said the reduction in retail space and addition of the two hotel buildings increases the floor area ratio of the project by more than 20 percent, requiring it to come before city council members for approval. The floor area is increasing from about 64,000 square feet to 122,120 square feet. She said the demand on city services, such as water and sewer, will more than double with the updated project plan, however, she also said the city is able to meet the demand.
Planner Darenda Marvin, representing Minto, said that while the floor area of the commercial segment of the project is increasing, the plan isn’t to increase the footprint of the planned buildings much but to build up instead. Marvin said that after retail and restaurant tenants for the site didn’t come to fruition, Minto and Margaritaville decided to go in a slightly different direction with the project.
“This is the kind of project I like to see in the city,” Bradenton City Councilman Bemis Smith said, adding that it’s “innovative.” Smith did question if a hotel is allowed in the marina’s Planned Development Project zoning and if a hotel could be placed at the site if the marina was not there.
Under the city’s definition for a marina, it allows for lodging for vessel owners, crews and guests. Marvin said she expects the primary visitors to the hotel to be boat owners and guests to the marina.
Once constructed, the hotel at One Particular Harbour will be one of only two full-service hotels west of downtown Bradenton. The other is the Waterline Marina Resort and Beach Club hotel on Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach.
In approving the project, council members also approved a reduction in side setbacks allowed for each of the hotel buildings, though it does not affect the setbacks from Manatee Avenue. For the primary hotel building, Marvin said the planned setback from Manatee Avenue is 150 feet from the right of way. All of the commercial buildings are located at least 300 feet away from any of the development’s residential buildings.
“That’s a beautiful view going over that bridge and seeing that development,” Councilman Gene Gallo said, adding that he doesn’t see the proposed changes to One Particular Harbour as an issue visually or for the traffic traveling along Manatee Avenue.
“The traffic on Manatee Avenue is by far not the fault of that development,” he said.
Smith said he thinks the Minto marina is a better fit for the area than the old one that was at the Perico Island site along with a 7/11 store and a Leverocks restaurant.
“I think this is a step up,” he said. “I think it’s a great move.”
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