Luxury hotel opens on Clearwater Beach

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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The Sandpearl resort had its grand-opening Monday.

CLEARWATER BEACH (Bay News 9) -- Tourists and locals have a new place to get a little R&R on Clearwater Beach.

The Sandpearl resort, located at 500 Mandalay Ave., opened its doors Monday.

At a price-tag of $100 million, it's the first luxury hotel to open on Clearwater Beach in 25 years.

"It's nice to have some quality guest rooms back in the market," said hotel general manager Stuart Arp. "Luxury hotel rooms, I think the area is needing that and this is going to be a nice boon to this Clearwater Beach area."

The hotel comes complete with a spa, a lagoon pool and two restaurants.

The hotel is a welcome sight on Clearwater Beach, where condos began taking over in recent years, many of which still sit vacant.

Clearwater vice mayor John Duran estimates the city lost about 1,100 rooms for tourists.

"Although we lost quite a few rooms, we also lost quite a few places because so many of them were small six and eight acre properties," Duran said.

The rooms range in price from $150 to $950 per night, which also means dollars spent in the local economy.

"I think the studies tell us the people on vacation spend about six times as much money as people who live here," Duran said.

Pinellas County commissioners are also working on something that would make it easier for local cities, if they choose to bring in hotels like this.

"We're working on a hotel density ordinance," said county commissioner Susan Latvala. "It would allow certain size properties to increase the density so a larger hotel can be built."