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PO Box 1212 Tampa, FL 33601 Pinellas Updated May 2006
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More Condos Bump Out A Beach Hotel CLEARWATER - Another beach hotel will bite the dust to make room for a condominium development.
The latest is Holiday Inn Sun Spree, at 712 S. Gulfview Blvd., which opened in 1964 as Clearwater Beach Hilton. It was converted to a Holiday Inn in 1995.
The hotel will remain open until July 31 and then demolished and cleared away within two months. The Marquesas - two 15-story condominium towers - will take its place, said Mike Cheezem, chief executive of JMC Communities, the project developers.
JMC, based in St. Petersburg, has built more than 3,800 condominium homes, including the Mandalay Beach Club on Clearwater Beach, the Bellamy on Bayshore in Tampa and Ovation in St. Petersburg.
In the past few years, Pinellas County has lost about 4,000 hotel and motel rooms. More than 65 condominium and condo-hotel developments are planned for Clearwater Beach.
The Holiday Inn has 217 hotel rooms. The new condominium towers, which will not include hotel rooms, will have 74 units in each tower.
Cheezem said Thursday that JMC has been working with Clearwater officials for a year to get approval for the development. He said the development didn't include hotel rooms because the "location was more conducive to private condominium homes." The condominiums will range from $960,000 to $3.3 million. The first Marquesas building is expected to open in late 2008.
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