Owners of historic Cordova Inn break ground on 65-key expansion
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 21, 2023

The expansion of the historic Cordova Inn in downtown St. Petersburg is officially underway.

New Hotel Collection, owner of the Cordova Inn, and Boyd Construction, general contractor for the project, on Friday held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site directly adjacent to the existing hotel. The expansion will bring 65 new rooms to the project via an adjacent building, bringing the hotel up to 97 rooms.

“I could have put two or three more floors in the expansion, but then you start to lose that boutique experience,” New Hotel Collection founder and CEO Tommy Del Zoppo told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “We like to interact with the people that stay here, and they want to have that community-based experience.”

The Cordova Inn, located at 253 Second Ave. N, was built in 1921 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. New Hotel Collection purchased the hotel in December 2020 for $3 million. In early February, the group secured a $20 million construction loan from Oklahoma-based Firstar Bank, according to public records.

The development team also includes Place Architecture. The expansion is expected to be completed in 2024.

“People told us we were absolutely crazy to buy this place,” Del Zoppo said. “People who have been here have seen the boom and bust before and thought what we were seeing a few years ago was just another cycle of that. But we knew something was different.”

Del Zoppo said St. Pete has changed over the last eight years. The thriving arts culture began to draw people to a community that had long been called “Heaven’s waiting room.”

When the group purchased Cordova Inn, the first big change was the opening of The Scott, a bar in the lobby that serves coffee and cocktails.

The hotel is adjacent to Williams Park, which Del Zoppo said was also part of what drew them to the site. He said the park should be a “gravitational pull” for the city but is rarely activated. He believes it could soon be the “new center for downtown,” and that he hopes the hotel plays a role in complementing the change he expects to soon see at the park.

The expansion will pay homage to the history of the hotel and St. Pete as a whole. Del Zoppo said the Cordova Inn “tells the story of St. Pete” and he hopes the expansion brings further attention to the historic gem of the original hotel.

In between the expansion and the existing hotel, the group will build a zen garden. A private area will be built in the expansion overlooking the garden that can be used as event space.

“I wanted a place where people can go and get an escape from the city,” Del Zoppo said. “For us, having spaces like the zen garden that are available to the community was a top priority. We want this to be an inclusive project so that even people who aren’t staying here can take advantage of it.”

He said there is approximately 3,000 square feet at the front of the hotel for a restaurant, and there will also be a rooftop bar with a full kitchen. Del Zoppo said they will make it a rooftop “unlike any other” and build a space that “encourages conversation.” The rooftop will also have a 400-square-foot space that may be leased to a local spa.

Penthouse suites will also be on the top floor. The rooms in the expansion will be significantly larger than those in the historic portion, which Del Zoppo said will help offer more accommodations for families.

He said they intend to “deliver a five-star experience at a three-star price.”

“One of our fears is St. Pete is growing so quickly it’s pricing out young people who want to be here and enjoy the city,” Del Zoppo said. “We’re in a really good situation where this hotel lets people come and enjoy the city and they don’t have to go 15 miles out to find a reasonably priced hotel. ... Our customers are not Hilton customers. One trend that’s come out of the pandemic is people don’t want those big chain experiences. They want these unique experiences.”

New Hotel Collection also owns a hotel inside the Harbourside Resort in Indian Rocks Beach, the Beachside Resort in Indian Shores and the Central Hotel in Sevierville, Tennessee.