Sports Illustrated Resorts to establish global headquarters in Clearwater
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 14, 2022

Sports Illustrated Resorts is moving its headquarters to downtown Clearwater.

Chris Schroeder, CEO of Experiential Ventures and Sports Illustrated Resorts, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal the company has signed a five-year lease, commencing in July, for 3,000 square feet in the One Clearwater Tower at 600 Cleveland St.

The iconic publication launched a hospitality brand earlier this year with plans to open resorts for “outdoorsy tourists and sports fans.” The first resort is planned for Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and is expected to open in late 2022. An Orlando SI Resort is also in the works and will open in 2024.

“Our core executive staff will be there in Clearwater,” Schroeder said. “I know the area has been growing significantly over the years, but we’ve had a partnership with [office building owner Daniels Ikajevs] on some things, and he introduced us to the area. Some of our people who work in our company live in the area as well.

“Once we started to see all the things that are happening in Clearwater — it’s very exciting, and I think in terms of what Smart City Group is doing in the city, we felt it would pretty much be a perfect fit for us to bring our company and all the brands we represent there,” Schroeder said.

Approximately 12 people will work from the new headquarters. One Clearwater Tower is owned by Ikajevs, co-founder of The Ring Workspaces and a real estate developer who owns several downtown properties. Ikajevs is also a workspace partner and on the advisory board for Experiential Ventures.

Schroeder said the vision Ikajevs — and his company Smart City Group — have for downtown Clearwater played a significant role in deciding to move the global headquarters of SI Resorts to the city. Ikajevs has been laying the framework for a plan to revitalize Clearwater for nearly four years and expects to see a wave of transformative projects springing up in the next few years. SI Resorts is the first of what Ikajevs hopes will be several impactful and transformative “wins” for downtown.

“Sports Illustrated Resorts is such an iconic brand, and having its headquarters in Clearwater, that’s really exciting for the marketplace. We are very excited to have them in the building,” Ikajevs said. “They bring business, and they bring connections.”

Smart City Group was part of a team that submitted development concepts for two city-owned waterfront properties downtown. City council is expected to pick one of the three teams this week. Schroeder is also involved in the project and is a proposed co-developer and operator of the Harborview site, which the team is proposing to be a music-themed hotel with 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.

Schroeder said it’s “the right time to be in Clearwater” and that there is a passion from both the private sector and the government to expand the city’s offerings and bring more attractions, retail and restaurants to downtown. He said the “overall energy” of the people and businesses and the city’s support will make Clearwater “even more of a special place” than it is now. The city is on the verge of transformation, and Schroeder said it was the perfect time to put down roots.

SI Resorts is a brand extension of Sports Illustrated, and Schroeder said the response to the resort launch has been “overwhelming.” The Orlando project aims to set the bar for a new type of resort, one catered around an adventurous lifestyle.

“Look at the connection of sports with people in general,” Schroeder said. “It’s just massive. It’s one of the major drivers of experience. When creating a hotel and an experience that connects people through sports, you want to allow people to engage in active lifestyle events.”

At SI Resorts, Schroeder said, action is the focus. Visitors will be able to do activities unique to the individual resort locations — think water sports, rock climbing, horseback riding, hiking, zip-lining, biking, snorkeling and scuba diving, among others.

“We’re going to have ways people can compete and track their scores throughout the experience,” Schroeder said. “There’ll be a leaderboard that will show the winners, and every night we will award the winner of certain events from that day.”