Sirata Beach Resort plans massive expansion with two new hotels on St. Pete Beach
/Sirata Beach REsort currently operates a 382-key hotel at 5300 Gulf Boulevard on St. Pete Beach
The Sirata Beach Resort’s new ownership group unveiled a massive expansion project that not only includes an extensive renovation to the existing hotel but calls for the construction of two new hotels on its property at 5300 Gulf Boulevard on St. Pete Beach.
Columbia Sussex, a hotel management company based in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, presented the full proposal at a community meeting held Thursday, April 13th, at the St. Pete Beach Community Center. It acquired the 13-acre property from Fort Worth, Texas-based Crescent Real Estate, which also owns the Westshore Grand Hotel in Tampa, in late 2022 for $207 million, which remains the highest hotel sale on record with the Pinellas County clerk’s office.
According to a site plan that passed out at the meeting, the existing Sirata resort will be renovated, and two additional hotels will be built: a 290-key luxury hotel to the north and a 130-key, select-service hotel to the south.
Renovation of the existing hotel will entail eliminating 57 rooms, renovating all the remaining rooms, upgrading and replacing the pool, and upgrading and relocating the Compass Grille.
A site plan of the Sirata Beach Resort’s planned expansion was distributed during a recent community meeting
On the north side of the property, the Sirata will demolish a dated hotel building, which currently contains 98 rooms. In its place, a 290-key luxury hotel with an elevated 4th floor pool will be built.
“We fully expect the luxury hotel on the north side of the property to be a JW Marriott,” said Joe Yung, Vice President of Development for Columbia Sussex Corporation, the owner of the Sirata Beach Resort. “We are in the final negotiations with Marriott and that should be completed in the next month or so. But I don't see any roadblocks to that.”
JW Marriott is classified as one of Marriott’s luxury hotel brands “that offers unparalleled service and amenities.” Ritz Carlton and St. Regis are also part of Marriott’s luxury brand of hotels. It would be the second JW Marriott in Pinellas County. Currently, construction is wrapping up on the 15-story JW Marriott Clearwater Beach at 691 South Gulfview Boulevard.
The proposed luxury hotel at the Sirata will stand ten stories tall with a three-story parking podium. The hotel will also contain a ballroom and meeting space.
The Sirata’s 382 guestrooms were renovated as part of a larger $15 million facelift in 2018 | Sirata Beach Resort
Once the luxury hotel is nearing completion, construction will begin on a 130-key select service hotel on the south end of the property, which is currently home to a surface parking lot. The select service hotel will be eight stories tall. As of now, a flag has not been determined for the hotel.
In total, the expansion will boost the number of hotel rooms offered at the Sirata Beach Resort to 647 rooms, a 265 room increase from the resort’s current 382 rooms.
The number of parking spaces at the Sirata will also increase substantially. The resort currently contains 480 parking spaces. The new development will include 737 parking spaces, exceeding the 714 spaces required by code.
In addition to Columbia Sussex as the project’s developer, the development team is comprised of Pivot Studio as the architect, Kimley-Horn as the engineer, and Stearns Weaver Miller as the legal and land planning consultants.
The Sirata underwent a $15 million renovation in 2018 which included the addition of private beachfront lanais in certain rooms | Sirata Beach Resort
During the community meeting, the owner of the Sirata and developer of the expansion, Columbia Sussex, outlined many benefits the project will have on St. Pete Beach.
The first benefit will be to Gulf Boulevard. Currently, for most of the Large Resort District, the sidewalk is narrow and very close to the roadway. The city’s new building code requires all new developments, including Sirata’s expansion, to install wider 10-foot sidewalks.
The new development will also help with flooding on Gulf Boulevard. Currently, all storm water runs off the property and onto Gulf Boulevard, contributing to the flooding issue often experienced during heavy rainfall. The new development is required, by city code, to hold the stormwater on-site, treat it, and attenuate it, which will be accomplished by a large stormwater vault below the JW Marriott.
Another benefit to the redevelopment is a restoration of the dunes between the resort and the beach, which will benefit nesting sea turtles.
A pool area at the Sirata Beach Resort on St Pete Beach. The proposed expansion calls for upgrading and replacing the pool | Sirata Beach Resort
Additionally, the project will include two public beach access points. The main public beach access, which is going to be 15 feet wide, will go right through the middle of the property from Gulf Boulevard to the beach. A secondary beach access will be along the southern boundary of the property.
There will also be a public beach easement, so that the residents of St Pete Beach will have access to the beach in front of the Sirata Beach Resort. The area behind the public beach access will be area reserved for resort guests.
Lastly, the City of St. Pete Beach has expressed interest in constructing a boardwalk to go all the way through the Large Resort District. The Sirata will be dedicating an easement for the city to construct that boardwalk and tie all the large resorts together.
Before work can begin on any of the new buildings, either the northern hotel or the southern hotel, the developer will have to go through the City of St. Pete Beach’s conditional use approval process.
A splash pad for children at the Sirata Beach Resort on ST Pete Beach | Sirata Beach Resort
After the city approves the conditional use, that effectively grants the developer the entitlements for the expansion, each new building will need to be permitted separately.
“We are not asking for any waivers or variances in the land development code,” said Yung. “Everything being proposed is allowed as of right.”
The project could be an uphill battle, however, as St. Pete Beach’s newly elected mayor, Adrian Petrila, has expressed opposition to further hotel development and expansion projects.
“My No. 1 priority is to curb overdevelopment with the cooperation of the commission,” Petrila said in an interview with Tampa Bay Newspapers.
However, at a City Commission meeting on March 30th, many commissioners did not share the same sentiment and disagreed with a potential moratorium on new hotel construction.
“I’m cautious about a moratorium, because there are all kinds of legal implications and property rights implications,” said Commissioner Friszolowski during the meeting.
The Sirata is not the only St. Pete Beach resort looking to expand. Tradewinds Island Resorts, located just north of the Sirata at 5500 Gulf Boulevard, announced an ambitious expansion project last year, which would bring an additional 650 hotel rooms, 33,000 square feet of conference space, 18,000 square feet of retail, and more.
Poolside cabanas at the Sirata Beach Resort on St. PEte Beach | Sirata Beach Resort
If everything goes smoothly, which may be unlikely given the mayor’s attitude towards new development, the first phase, construction of the JW Marriott, will begin by early 2024. Renovations on the Sirata will occur at the same time. The JW Marriott will take 16-18 months to complete.
Work on the select service hotel can begin a few months before the completion of the JW Marriott and will take 12-15 months to complete.
The entire project is estimated to take two and a half years to complete after initial groundbreaking.
