Divided commission narrowly approves TradeWinds expansion on St. Pete Beach
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 24, 2024

After a more than six-hour hearing, the TradeWinds Island Resort expansion on St. Pete Beach is moving forward.

Just after midnight on Wednesday morning, the St. Pete Beach City Commission approved a conditional use permit and the development agreement for the project in a 3-2 vote. Mayor Adrian Petrila and Commissioner Betty Rzewnicki voted against the expansion.

The 25-acre TradeWinds site will be developed in four phases, which could take up to 20 years. The expansion will bring a net addition of 629 rooms to the site. The vote early Wednesday morning followed a nearly nine-hour public hearing on April 15. Public comment was completed on April 15, but due to the late hour, commissioners pushed the vote back to April 23.

The developer, South Florida-based 1754 Properties, said the timeline gives them the option to allow new rooms to be absorbed into the market before they begin the next phase of development. He also said it will allow neighbors to not have a decade's worth of nonstop construction.

"We are thankful for the city commission's support as we move forward with this transformative project," Joe Smith, founder and CEO of 1754 Properties, said in a statement. "We've worked extremely hard to keep St. Pete Beach residents top of mind in our planning, and we'll continue to do so as the expansion begins."

The project will include new office space, retail and restaurant spaces, conference and meeting space, new parking garages and various amenities. One of the public amenities includes a rooftop terrace with a glass floor balcony, which 1754 Properties said will be the first of its kind in Pinellas County.

Once complete, the resort will have 1,596 rooms and 170,126 square feet of accessory space, including retail and restaurant.

The developer will also build three new beach access points on the site.

The development team includes Nunzio Marc DeSantis Architects, Perry-Becker Landscape Architects, Harris Civil Engineers and Stearns Weaver Miller.

Some of the commissioners said their major questions and concerns about the project were answered during the extensive presentations last week, while others pushed for more clarification on the timeline and details of the CUP. Several at the dais expressed their frustrations with the project's extensive timeline and voiced concerns over water usage and traffic.

Earlier this year, commissioners approved the hotly contested Sirata Beach Resort expansion, adding more than 400 rooms to the site. With both projects now moving forward, St. Pete Beach is set to undergo a massive transformation.