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Kaleta seeks Tourist Development Council appointment

Kaleta seeks appointment to Tourist Development Council

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Business, Featured, Tourism.

MANATEE COUNTY – Anna Maria Island developer Shawn Kaleta is among the seven applicants seeking appointment to the Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC).

Kaleta is one of four applicants seeking to fill the hotelier seat recently vacated by Ed Chiles. The hotelier seat is also open to resort owners and short-term vacation rental owners and property managers. Developer and Palmetto Marriott Resort Managing Director Anthony DeRusso, Bradenton Beach-based Wagner Realty rental property manager Lisa Varano and real estate broker Damien Hernandez also seek the hotelier seat.

Holmes Beach City Commissioner Dan Diggins, Longboat Key Town Commissioner Debra Williams and Palmetto Mayor Daniel West seek to fill the elected official seat recently vacated by former Palmetto mayor Shirley Groover Bryant.

Manatee County commissioners are expected to appoint the two new TDC members during their Tuesday, January 28 meeting that begins at 9 a.m. and public input can be given regarding any of the TDC applicants when the commission reaches that point of the meeting. The TDC appointments are the 50th item listed on the meeting agenda.

The current TDC members are County Commissioner Amanda Ballard, Palmetto Mayor Gene Brown, hotelier Jiten Patel, hotelier Eric Cairns, hotelier Rahul Patel and interested citizens Dave Wick and Norma Kennedy.

Serving as an advisory board to the county commission, TDC members make non-binding recommendations regarding the expenditure of tax revenues generated by Manatee County’s 6% tourist development tax. According to the Manatee County Tax Collector’s Office, “This tax applies to anyone who rents, leases, lets or grants a license for the use of living quarters or accommodations for six months or less, regardless of their state or country of residence.”

Last year, the tourist development tax generated approximately $30 million in county commission-controlled tax revenues. In recent years, tourist development tax revenues helped fund the Anna Maria City Pier replacement project completed in 2020 and the installation and repair of the floating dock and finger docks at the Bradenton Beach Pier. Tourist development tax revenues are also being used to subsidize the county-contracted Gulf Islands Ferry service between Bradenton and Anna Maria Island. The city of Anna Maria will soon pursue tourist development tax revenues to help replace the portion of the City Pier destroyed by Hurricane Milton.

Kaleta application

The application form seeks answers to several questions, including: “Why do you want to serve on this advisory board or committee?”

Kaleta’s response says, “To assist in the management of the Manatee County tourism growth.”

On his application, Kaleta lists hotelier as his occupation, Prime Hotels and Prime Vacations as his business names and a Holmes Beach address as his business address. According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office, the 48th Street business address that Kaleta listed is a homesteaded residential property.

Kaleta’s TDC application states he’s the owner and founder of “the largest property management company in Manatee County – Prime Vacations.” It also states he’s the owner and founder of the Prime Hotel management group.

According to the latest annual report filed with the Florida Division of Corporations on April 25, 2024, Prime Vacations LLC listed Kaleta as the corporation’s manager and attorney Louis Najmy as the corporation’s registered agent. The corporations amended articles of organization

Filed on Oct. 30, the amended articles of organization for Prime Vacations LLC now list the Plantation, Florida-based CT Corporation System as registered agent and the New York City-based GSP Prime Buyer LLC as manager. That document notes Kaleta was removed as the LLC’s manager.

The Sun could not locate any active Florida Division of Corporations documents that reference Prime Hotels, the Prime Hotel Management Group or Kaleta’s involvement in either of those entities listed on his TDC application.

TDC applicants are asked to describe any education and experience they have that would benefit the advisory board. Kaleta’s response states he’s a licensed general contractor and engineer with a Master of Business Administration degree in real estate finance and marketing.

His application also says, “Experienced hotelier owning over 10 hotels in Manatee County including Bali Hai Beach Resort and Spa (in Holmes Beach), Anna Maria Beach Resort (in Holmes Beach) and Seaside beach resort (in Bradenton Beach).”

Kaleta’s application states he’s the “Owner of largest hotel in Manatee County on a barrier island – 106 rooms on Bridge Street.”

The Bridge Street hotel Kaleta referenced on his application is not built yet, nor does he own all the properties to be utilized for the proposed hotel development project.

In December 2022, architect Shaun Luttrell submitted the hotel-related major development permit application that listed Kaleta and Bradenton Beach business owner Jake Spooner as the hotel project property owners.

According to the Manatee County Property Appraisers office, Kaleta-affiliated LLCs own three of the eight properties to be utilized for the hotel. An LLC associated with Firkins Nissan owns one of the properties and a Spooner-affiliated LLC owns four of the parcels needed to construct the U-shaped resort structure as planned.

In December 2023, the Bradenton Beach Commission unanimously approved the 106-room resort that includes a 60-seat restaurant, 5,396 square feet of retail space and 154 on-site parking spaces.

Last week, on Jan. 16, City Attorney Ricinda Perry told Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) members that Kaleta and Spooner hope to begin the hotel construction project by late summer. The Bradenton Beach CRA includes Mayor John Chappie and all four Bradenton Beach commissioners.

Kaleta’s TDC application notes he owns five restaurants, including Beach Bistro in Holmes Beach. It also notes he owns the Bradenton Beach Marina (also known as The Boat Yard) and a mobile home park – the Pines Trailer Park in Bradenton Beach. On Jan. 24, eviction notices were discovered taped to the doors of those unoccupied, hurricane-damaged mobile homes. The eviction letters were also sent to the mobile home owners by certified mail.

Public input

The TDC applications are included in the agenda for Tuesday’s meetings and are available to the public here. Click on agenda item 50 to view the applications.

Tuesday’s county commission meeting will be livestreamed and can be viewed here.

The TDC appointments are subject to public input and can be given during Tuesday’s meeting in person or by telephone using Zoom teleconferencing. To provide public comment by phone, call 1-888-788-0099 or 1-877-853-5247 and enter the meeting ID 89626986421, followed by the # symbol.

County commissioners can be contacted directly at their county email addresses: carolann.felts@mymanatee.org, amanda.ballard@mymanatee.org, tal@mymanatee.org, drbob.mccann@mymanatee.org, jason.bearden@mymanatee.org, george.kruse@mymanatee.org, mike.rahn@mymanatee.org

Related coverage

 

City attorney: Hotel project will begin construction this year.

City staff addresses single room vacation rentals

Single-room rentals in vacation homes prohibited

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – City staff recently answered an inquiry regarding single-room rentals in vacation rental homes with a definite “No.”

On July 19, Prime Vacations Compliance Specialist Rina Hernandez sent an email to Deputy City Clerk Ruth Stief and City Treasurer Shayne Thompson that said, “Can each bedroom in a five-bedroom property be advertised and rented as individual units or does the property have to be advertised and rented as a whole?”

According to the Prime Vacations website, the company Hernandez represents manages seven boutique hotels in Florida, including The Bali Hai Beach Resort and The Anna Maria Beach Resort in Holmes Beach and The Anna Maria Island Inn in Bradenton Beach. The Prime Vacations website also lists affiliations with the AMI Locals and Anna Maria Vacations real estate and property management companies.

After consulting with City Attorney Ricinda Perry, Thompson sent Hernandez an email response: “It is the opinion of the city attorney and the building official that this is not a

permissible use for properties in areas that are zoned residential.”

In response, Hernandez wrote, “So, this wouldn’t fall under the jurisdiction of shared housing?”

Thompson suggested Hernandez contact Building Official Steve Gilbert for more information.

In an email, Gilbert provided Hernandez with the following information: “Renting by the room is a ‘boarding house,’ either transient or permanent, and with or without meals, by definition. The Florida Building Code treats such structures as commercial buildings. You would need two separate means of egress, non-combustible construction or at least fire-rated assemblies, perhaps a full sprinkler system, and full ADA compliance for all sleeping rooms, bathrooms, cooking facilities, and vertical access, including a commercial elevator.

“From a zoning perspective, boarding houses, bed and breakfasts, and multi-unit buildings, including those with multiple sleeping rooms as defined in the Florida Building Code, are permitted uses in the C2 zone district. They would not be a permitted use in either single-family (R1) or two-family (R2) zone districts,” Gilbert wrote.

“From a zoning perspective, the advertisement to rent is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms. From a life safety and building code perspective, advertisement is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms,” Gilbert wrote.

“From a local licensing perspective, the advertisement is for a single-family or perhaps a two-family dwelling, not individual sleeping rooms. From a state DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) licensing perspective, the advertisement is for a vacation rental, not a hotel/motel, not a transient boarding house, and not a bed and breakfast. The state licenses and inspection requirements are very different for these more intensive uses. In sum, you may not advertise rentals by the room,” Gilbert wrote.

In response to Gilbert, Hernandez then wrote: “Thank you for clarifying. We had a guest that had a reservation booked with us and canceled because they were able to book an individual room with another management company.”

Hernandez included in her email a link to an Airbnb vacation rental home in Bradenton Beach that advertised single-room rentals.

City staff addresses single room vacation rentals
The Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn is advertised on the Airbnb website. – Airbnb | Submitted

“Is this something that is going to be addressed? Please let us know if there’s something we can do about it to avoid losing future guests,” Hernandez wrote.

The Airbnb link Hernandez provided referenced the Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn located at 206 Church Ave. in Bradenton Beach. According to the Manatee County Property Appraiser’s office, D&C Properties of Tampa LLC owns the home and property, and the Florida Division of Corporations lists Maria Trim as the Tampa-based LLC’s registered agent and Mark Dexter as an authorized person.

The Airbnb link Hernandez provided offered for rent a single-bed bedroom with a private bath for $229 per night.

City staff addresses single room vacation rentals
The Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn is advertised on the GuestReservations.com website. – GuestReservations.com | Submitted

The Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn is also advertised on the independent Guest Reservations website. That website offers the boutique inn’s “superior king room,” “king room with balcony,” “king room with garden view,” “standard king room” and more.

City staff addresses single room vacation rentals
The Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn’s bedroom types are advertised at GuestReservations.com. – GuestReservations.com | Submitted

When contacted by The Sun, a Prime Vacations representative confirmed Prime Vacations does not manage the Playa Esmeralda Boutique Inn.

Commission discussion

Hernandez’s inquiry became the subject of a brief discussion during the July 20 city commission meeting.

While providing her attorney update, Perry said, “We are now being asked if you had a home with seven bedrooms could seven different renters rent out those bedrooms separately?”

“That would almost be like a boarding house,” Mayor John Chappie said.

City staff addresses single room vacation rentals
This aerial photo of the vacation rental home at 206 Church Ave. is included in the Airbnb advertising. – Airbnb | Submitted

Commissioner Ralph Cole asked if the city can enforce its prohibition on single-room vacation rentals.

In response, Perry said, “The fire department has a lot more power than code enforcement does. They have the actual authority to go into the property and investigate it. We do not.”

Perry reiterated some of the information Gilbert provided Hernandez and she noted the city has existing zoning prohibitions in the R-1 and R-2 residential zone districts that relate to this particular type of bedroom use. She said the city is further protected by the state’s fire and building codes.

In response to a question from Cole, Perry said the single-room rental prohibition does not apply to several people sharing a rented home as their full-time residence.

“Staff’s working on this and will report back,” Chappie said.

“It was a formal request,” Perry said. “We had to respond to it and Steve did an outstanding job outlining why it’s prohibited.”