Clearwater city officials are still looking into the possibility of having a major hotel built in the area. At Tuesday’s council meeting, hotel developer Lee Fundanet is expected to present the council with proposal outlining some type of agreement with the city to begin preliminary research into building a hotel in the area.
In April, hotel developer Fundanet spoke to the council about the potential for developing a big hotel in Clearwater.
He said Clearwater was in a good location, had lots of traffic and didn’t have much in the way of hotel accommodations.
He said he was interested in talking with the city about some type of partnership to get a hotel project done.
At the June 6 council meeting, Fundanet was back again to give the council an update. He said he had met with Administrator Kevin Kress and Councilman Rollie Lange to talk about some ideas.
“There’s a lot of moving parts as far as finding the right site and negotiating the land,” he said. “On the development side, I’ve found you have to put as many pieces in place to get to a phase where you can then close on the land get the loan and all the pieces come together.”
Fundanet said he has been doing some preliminary work, meeting with a contractor, a few drywall suppliers in the area and builders who are interested.
“I met with an architect and I have a schematic of what I’m thinking about doing,” he said. “I laid out some of the costs - everything from soil testing to bank interest.”
Fundanet showed council members a preliminary drawing of a hotel with restaurant and surrounding shops.
“I’m looking at doing a three-story building - 90 units with attached restaurant,” he said. “We can incorporate other shops or retail.”
Fundanet said it was only a rough drawing at this point. In order to move ahead to the next stage he would like some sort of agreement with the city. He mentioned getting a market trend study and pulling together STAR reports to determine the feasibility of locating a hotel in the Clearwater area.
The STAR (Smith Travel Accommodations Report) program is used by the global hotel industry as a vital revenue management tool. The report benchmarks a hotel’s performance against its competitive aggregate and local market.
Fundanet said the preliminary work, including time, travel and compiling information would run about $50,000.
“That would be what I would ask of the council, either a partnership or consult from my company to take this project and get it to adolescent stage where it can grow,” he said. “All the information would be the city’s. If we don’t finish the project, all the work will be the city’s to do what they want with it. But I feel that we have the strength and the commitment and background to get the project done.
Members of the council weren’t sure about committing funds up front for a study and market analysis.
Mayor Pete Edmonson said back in 2014, the EDA was close to securing a grant to cover a portion of a hotel study, but backed off after they received advice from a retired hotel developer.
He said their idea had been that a hotel wouldn’t be the “anchor” project, but rather the result of another project like a community center or other another destination project that would draw people to the area.
Fundanet said he wasn’t trying to pressure the council by asking for money.
“It may come off as a little rushed, but I want to keep things moving,” he said. “Every community you go into, you assess the risk. Lenders won’t even talk with you unless you have the study, a design and reports.
Fundanet said he would send the city a formal letter describing exactly what he felt a partnership would entail. He said the council could either decide to move ahead or not.
“Once you see the proposal on how it lays out, I think it’ll be clear,” he said.
Councilman Rollie Lange said the council should look at the proposal.
“I don’t know the answer,” he said. “But I think this is where we break the ice to get the city to make a move.”
Fundanet said he would have the proposal ready for the July 5 council meeting.
