Sirata Beach Resort owners file initial expansion plans
The Sirata Beach Resort’s new owners are taking the first steps towards initiating the expansion and renovation of the St. Pete Beach property.
Kentucky-based hotel management company Columbia Sussex and engineering group Kimley-Horn have filed plans to build a new freestanding restaurant and pool for the 13-acre resort at 5390 Gulf Blvd. The existing beach restaurant and pool would be demolished.
The resort, which opened in the 1960s, is known for its pools, access to a private beach and 30,000-square-foot function space for conferences and events.
The renovation request was scheduled to go before the St. Pete Technical Review Committee today; however, the meeting was canceled. The committee will now review the item during the July 5 meeting.
Columbia Sussex’s plans also entail building a new kitchen, a renovated doorway entrance, a parking area, a new driving lane and landscaping alterations.
As part of the renovation process, the group would also remove 21 existing hotel rooms. Columbia Sussex plans to eventually downsize the total number of rooms from 382 to 227 keys.
A site plan showing the proposed new pool and restaurant spaces. Image: Kimley-Horn/City of St. Pete Beach.
A conceptual site plan of the overall phased expansion shows a future 10-story, 290-key luxury hotel with meeting space, a ballroom and a three-story parking garage north of the resort.
Additionally, the group would redevelop the surface parking lot at the south end of the property into a 130-key, eight-story select service hotel and include another parking garage.
The development team is not requesting any conditional use permits or approval of new hotel lodging buildings for the initial phase.
Columbia Sussex is working with architecture firm Pivot Studio on the project.
The group acquired the beachfront property in a record-breaking $207 million deal last year from Fort Worth, Texas-based Crescent Real Estate. Columbia Sussex also owns the Marriott Tampa Westshore hotel in Tampa and the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa.
Other hotel projects are in the works for St. Pete Beach, including a planned expansion for the TradeWinds Islands Resort.
