Rendering by Sandvick Architects.

When a Sheraton hotel opens adjacent to the Bradenton Area Convention Center, it could turn a public resource into corporate tourism magnet in Palmetto. “When we are able to get that headquarters hotel built, that will drive conferences and corporate meetings we can’t win right now,” says Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. A decision last week by Manatee County Commissioners to move ahead with a deal with Improvement Network Development Partners will bring that key piece of the tourism puzzle into place.

“The goal is to make this a destination hotel,” says Tony DeRusso, director of project development for INDevelopment Partners. “Obviously that means it’s a full-service hotel with all the amenities full-service would provide, but we also want to make sure we are providing things for convention-goers, business travelers and their families as well.” That will include a connector area between the hotel space and convention center that serves as an entertainment zone, complete with stores and restaurants open to people attending events at the center whether or not they stay at the hotel. 

A breezeway will physically connect the properties, something Falcione says is essential considering Florida’s frequent rain storms. The plan is for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide to manage the Sheraton property once it is complete. 

A ballroom with 8,000 square feet effectively increases the available space for conferences and conventions by offering public space at the Sheraton. While the 250 hotel rooms included in plans show the level of convention the hotel can handle on its own, DeRusso says, the center will certainly be able to handle events that fill the Sheraton and every other major hotel in the market now. A 10,000-square-foot plus outdoor event space will make the hotel capable of hosting private events, and DeRusso envisions the locale hosting everything from weddings to Super Bowl parties.

DeRusso declines to compare the facility to any other conference-adjacent hotel. Falcione, though, notes the relationship between government and private sector player in planning this kind of facility has plenty of precedent. Perhaps most notably in the region, Charlotte County worked hand-in-hand with hotel developers to open a Sheraton Four Points on site with the Charlotte Harbor Event Center. Similar public-private partnerships proved successful for Fort Myers, Tampa and Lakeland. “Traditionally, stand-alone convention centers don’t make money,” DeRusso says. “They are built to drive new dollars into the community to generate an economic impact. To really make a convention center viable for the community, you need an adjacent hotel or hotels. The only way to do that is when private hotel developers work with private sector development to make it happen.”

Rendering by Sandvick Architects.