Clearwater City Council ready to send $400M development proposal to voters
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 9, 2022

The city of Clearwater has thrown its full support behind the development of two bluff parcels downtown, and now it will be up to voters on Nov. 8 to decide whether the approximately $400 million developments will come to life.

City council approved the development and purchase agreements last week with the team wanting to bring a hotel, apartments and retail to the waterfront properties. If voters agree, the city will sell the land to Palm Harbor’s The DeNunzio Group and New York-based Gotham Property Acquisitions for $24.7 million.

The sale would close by the end of 2024 if voters approve.

“Congratulations to all of us,” Mayor Frank Hibbard said following the unanimous vote. “Now, we’ve just got a lot of work to do between now and November.”

The proposal from the development team shows two apartment towers — totaling up to 600 apartments — on the former city hall site. There are also plans for 40,000 square feet of commercial space. The two towers would be built in phases and are expected to take about six years to complete.

A 13-story, 158-key hotel is planned for the former Harborview Center site with retail and restaurant space, a 4,000-square-foot rooftop bar and a 1,000-person conference center. According to city documents, the development will have two buildings, the hotel with approximately 9,000 square feet of commercial uses and then a second building with 12,000 square feet of commercial.

A pedestrian bridge would connect the two properties, and there will be a variety of open public spaces. The two properties will also be designed to achieve LEED Silver certification. They will use Low Impact Development stormwater management systems “such as rain gardens, and vegetative swales are anticipated to be used throughout the site,” according to city documents.

The city is also preparing to include $25.5 million in incentives for the development, according to city documents. Of that, $22 million would go toward the construction of two underground parking garages — which will ensure views of the waterfront are not blocked by a parking garage. Up to $2 million is being allotted for the pedestrian bridge, and $1.5 million would go toward impact fees.

The city will demolish the old city hall building and will handle environmental remediation if it comes up. The developments will go next to the $84 million Imagine Clearwater project, which is renovating Coachman Park.

Gotham and the DeNunzio Group also have Stantec, Coastal Construction, Behar + Peteranecz Architecture and owner’s representative Joe Burdette on their team. Stantec is currently building Imagine Clearwater for the city.