The Cordova Inn, a historic boutique hotel in downtown St. Pete, is set for a major expansion that will grow the hotel from 32 to 94 rooms while adding a restaurant and a rooftop bar and pool to the property, according to plans recently filed with the city.

Built in 1921, The Cordova Inn is located at 253 2nd Avenue North and was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Throughout the late 20th century, ownership of the 32-key hotel changed hands several times and the hotel was renamed The Pier Hotel before being reimagined as the Cordova Inn again in 2014. Over time, the hotel has undergone several renovations and upgrades, including in 2001 and 2014.

In December, Pinellas County-based New Hotel Collection purchased The Cordova Inn for $3 million from entrepreneur Steve Gianfilippo. New Hotel Collection, which is led by founders Alex Hodges, Tommy Del Zoppo and Ron New, also owns Beachside Resort in Indian Shores and the Central Hotel in Sevierville, Tennessee, along with a hotel inside Harbourside Resort in Indian Rocks Beach.

After closing on the property, the New Hotel Collection team worked to open The Scott, an intimate bar in the lobby that offers coffee from Hogg Batch Coffee during the day and signature cocktails at night. Now the team is embarking on a major expansion of the hotel that will pay homage to the history of the building and will allow the Cordova Inn to be preserved for years to come.

New Hotel Collection is currently under contract to purchase the Stanton Hotel and the Stanton Apartments, which are located just west of the Cordova Inn at 225 and 211 3rd Street North, respectively. Jake Wollman and Jon La Budde of KW Commercial represented the buyers and sellers in the sale, which is expected to close later this year. After relocation of the remaining tenants, which the buyers will be aiding with, the two buildings will be demolished.

On the site, the team envisions a five-story, 62-key addition that recognizes the Neoclassical Revival architecture of the existing historic Cordova Inn building. Embracing the heritage of the building has been part of the owner’s goal from day one. “We want our guests to feel as though they are stepping back in time,” Del Zoppo told St. Pete Rising in March prior to the opening of The Scott.

A new elevator and stair core will connect the new wing to the historic hotel. The elevator will be the first in the hotel, which is currently not handicapped accessible. Between the old and new wings will be a lushly landscaped mid-block courtyard. Both the courtyard and porch will be open to anyone, whether they are staying in the hotel or not, matching New Hotel Collection’s goal to have a property that’s inclusive to all. 

The existing hotel building is 12,200 square feet and the addition will be 38,200 square feet. Once complete, the 50,400-square-foot hotel will have a total of 94 rooms, including a mix of standard rooms and suites. A total of 22 parking spaces will also be included in the project with ingress and egress off the alley.

The addition would expand the front porch of the Cordova Inn into a dramatic wraparound balcony with lush streetscaping. The ground floor of the addition will contain a restaurant on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 3rd Street. New Hotel Collection is in talks with a local restaurant group on the space, however no lease has been signed. The expanded Cordova Inn would also have a rooftop bar and pool on the fifth floor offering views of Williams Park and the downtown skyline.

While the expansion is expected to upgrade the hotel, the mission of delivering an intimate boutique experience at an affordable rate will stay the same. “The goal is to provide a 5-star experience at a 3-star price point,” says Kyle Parks, spokesman for New Hotel Collection and Principal at B2 Communications. “We see this expansion as a way to preserve the history of the Cordova Inn forever while providing much-needed hotel rooms to the downtown market.”

The Cordova Inn expects to remain open during construction; however, some rooms may close briefly while the elevator shaft is constructed. For New Hotel Collection, having a larger hotel makes sense from a marketing point of view, since the new hotel will be better able to accommodate groups that want blocks of rooms. Also, downtown St. Petersburg continues to see a high level of demand for hotel rooms, even as the pandemic continues.

Due to the building’s historic status, the plans will need to be reviewed and approved by the Community Planning & Preservation Commission, and the expansion will also go through the City’s administrative approval process for site plan review.  

In addition to B2 Communications working with New Hotel Collection on the project, Ameris Bank is providing financing, and Tim Clemmons and Greg Glenn of Place Architecture designed the expansion. Boyd Construction is serving as the general contractor and Katherine Cole of Hill Ward Henderson is the project’s land use and zoning attorney.

“Building a five-story addition rather than a tower gives The Cordova Inn the expanded space it needs to thrive while  fitting into the surrounding block and respecting the scale and architecture of the original structure,” Clemmons says.

The New Hotel Collection team expects to obtain the necessary approvals over the next few months before beginning construction by the end of the year. The expanded Cordova Inn is expected to open in 2023.