Clearwater Waterfront Update 06/17/22

DeNunzio, Gotham to Redevelop Downtown Clearwater Sites

The Clearwater City Council has chosen to move forward with the proposal from The Bluffs to transform the downtown waterfront sites. 

The council voted to enter negotiations with The Bluffs to purchase the two parcels which are the City Hall, a 2.6-acre site and Harborview, a 1.43-acre site.  Known as the “bluff properties”, the development is part of the city’s vision, along with a redeveloped waterfront park anchored by a new amphitheater, to draw more people downtown.

The Bluffs team led by the Gotham Organization, a New-York based real estate firm and the locally based firm, The DeNunzio Group.  The development team also includes Coastal Construction, Behar + Peteranecz Architecture and Stantec, which is currently working with the city on the $84 million Imagine Clearwater project.

The Bluffs’ proposal includes for two 27-story residential towers on the City Hall site offering a collective total of 600 rental units.  On the Harborview site, The Bluffs proposes a 13-story, 150-room hotel with 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. 

The next step for the city, following the selection of the developer, is to reach a development agreement by July 7 to meet the deadline to get the referendum on the November ballot.  The citizens’ vote will be the final decision.

“Our talented team and local partners look forward to continuing to showcase the ways this project will innovate, celebrate Clearwater’s natural resources, and bring opportunity to our great city,” Matt Picket, project partner at Gotham, said in a written statement. “The people of Clearwater deserve smart, intelligent development in a city where they work, live and play for generations to come. We look forward to presenting this project to the community and ensuring an inclusive and transparent vision for passage in November.” 

The Bluffs’ proposal includes the following elements:

A boutique conference center in the 13-story hotel that could hold 1,000 people, a 2,000-square-foot performance center and a rooftop restaurant and beer garden.

In their introductory letter, The Bluffs group cited several retail partners and restaurants, including John and Trudy Cooper, Volet Hospitality Group and Sea Dog Brewing Co. In a previous presentation, the group also mentioned Green Bench Brewing as a tenant.

Green open space retail corridors that will filter through the developments creating connectivity between the park and Osceola Avenue, which the group sees as an important threshold to the park.

Pedestrian bridges will be built on the Harborview site, where the residential towers would be built, and the City Hall site will include outdoor dining accessible to the public and access to the park.

 

The offer the Bluffs’ group made for the City Hall site is $15.4 million and $9.3 million for the Harborview Center.  The preference is to purchase the sites; however, a lease agreement is possible for the Harborivew site.

 

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