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Sandpearl Resort Replaces Clearwater Beach Hotel

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By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2007

CLEARWATER - The grand old lady of the beach is gone.

The Clearwater Beach Hotel, which opened as a boardinghouse in 1921, was demolished two years ago to make room for the future.

The swank, new girl on the beach, the Sandpearl Resort, opened Aug. 27.

The Sandpearl offers 253 rooms and 116 condominiums on a strand of sugar-white beach. Amenities include a 11,000-square-foot spa, a Gulf-front fitness center and a 140,000-gallon lagoon-style pool with private cabanas, restaurants, ballrooms and postcard views.

'Without sounding cocky, we are raising the level to a place Clearwater Beach has never been before,' says Stuart Arp, general manager of the resort. 'We are going to compete with the Naples Grande and the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota and Naples.'

Arp aspires to achieve the AAA five-diamond rating received in 2006 by both Ritz-Carltons he mentioned. Only 150 resorts in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean achieved that primo rating last year, and none were in the Tampa Bay area.

The $270 million project on 7.7 acres, which includes the 16-story Sandpearl Residences condos priced from $1.1 million to $5 million, replaces the quaint Clearwater Beach Hotel that stood for more than 80 years. The Hunter family, owners of that hotel for 50 years, is a Sandpearl partner and helped create a resort true to its roots, says builder Mike Cheezem, CEO of JMC Communities in St. Petersburg.

The family had more than 100 suitors over the past quarter-century, Jeff Hunter says.

'When we first talked to Mike Cheezem in 1999, I'd have choked on my oatmeal if you told me we were going to sell,' says Hunter, now owner of the historical Hotel Fort Des Moines in Iowa. 'But then we saw his vision for the beach, decided to get involved and eventually sold it. We saw the beach was changing and knew we were at a point where we would've had to put a lot more money into the hotel.

'We felt the best way to go was with Mike in order for the next generation to continue the tradition of the hotel and the spirit of hospitality.'

The worn wooden bar from the old hotel has a new home at the Tate Island Grill next to the Sandpearl pool. And the old hotel's dinner bell is outside the grill, ready to be rung every day at sunset instead of when the food's ready.

'We formulated a vision that was unique to the area and its environmental heritage,' Cheezem says. 'We wanted the feeling of a grand beach house and friendliness with a classic Florida look. We purchased the parcel from the Hunter family and developed a relationship with them while we built.'

The Sandpearl's Hunter Ballroom, with its sea turtle carpet and natural light from east windows, honors Hunter's late father, Edward Sr., who bought the hotel in 1955. Jeff and his brothers, Dan and Edward Jr., are minority partners in the Sandpearl.

The Tate Island Grill is named for Ernest Tate, a homesteader on what was named Clearwater Key or Clearwater Island at the turn of the 20th century. It was briefly called Tate's Island in the early 1900s.

Blown-up picture postcards of Clearwater from decades past are framed and line the resort's hallways. A collage of some 90 photos depicting Clearwater history hangs near the entrance to the resort's signature restaurant, Caretta on the Gulf.

And every room will have a copy of 'Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise,' a memoir by Myrtle Scharrer Betz, who was born on nearby Caladesi Island and lived there from 1895 to 1934.

A tropical storm filled in the pass that once separated Caladesi from the barrier island that is Clearwater Beach. Today, Sandpearl guests can take a long hike from the resort to Caladesi.

Betz's image is incorporated into one of three attention-grabbing murals in the lobby. She stands in the background with her father in the oil painting depicting a family walking on the beach. Traces of the area's history are scattered in the sand along with cockle, olive and scallop shells. The paintings are the work of Tarpon Springs artist Christopher Still.

'Christopher doesn't just paint a picture,' Arp says, 'he paints the whole story.'

A video and printed explanation of the history blended into the murals will soon be available for guests.

Many Employees Retained

Some employees may look familiar to former Clearwater Beach Hotel patrons; a bartender, banquet manager and housekeeping workers all have the old hotel on their resumes.

The beadboard ceilings and crown molding also are reminiscent of the old hotel. And the phone number - (727) 441-2425 - is the same.

'There was a great love for the Clearwater Beach Hotel in this community,' Sandpearl director of sales and marketing Nancy Cimney says. 'It was a place families came year after year.'

Many of the older people who frequent the area still long for the old landmark, while most of the younger crowd enjoy the new place without reservation.

Zack Franklin, manager of the Mandalay Surf Co. across the street, glanced at the terraced planting in front of the resort featuring palms, sea oats and sea grapes.

'Look at it,' he says. 'It looks like it's been there forever, like it belongs. It's killer.'

But not everyone in the neighborhood is thrilled.

'I liked the old one better,' says Lynda Hamrell, a longtime city employee who works in the library a short walk from the resort. 'It was so quaint and lovely.

'This new one looks nice, but the old one had such pretty architecture. The new one might be really beautiful inside - I'll admit that. Oh, I guess you can't stop progress.'

Feel Right At Home

Most of the rooms on the hotel's eight floors have balconies. All rooms have flat-screen, high-definition televisions, minibars and refrigerators. Suites on the top two floors have washers and dryers, glass-door showers and water-jet bathtubs.

'But it will be a comfortable, relaxed luxury hotel,' Arp says. 'What we strived for is a place where you wear shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt. And we also wanted to be family friendly.'

The lobby, which overlooks a waterfall, pool and palms, has a living room feel.

Caretta on the Gulf offers a fine-dining experience with indoor and outdoor seating. The ceviche and raw bar has sushi and local fresh catches. The wine room seats eight for wine testing or parties and offers 125 wines.
JMC Communities also built the neighboring Belle Harbor and Mandalay Beach Club condos and the Grande and Meridian residences a few miles south at Sand Key and is building the Marquesas luxury condos at the southern tip of Clearwater Beach.

Cheezem explained that the new resort's name came from a company visioning session.

'It's a pearl in the sand,' he says.
SANDPEARL RESORT
WHAT: New 253-room hotel on Clearwater Beach with a lagoon-style pool, spa, fitness center, dining and meeting rooms.

WHERE: 500 Mandalay Ave., Clearwater

RATES: $179 to $289 standard facing street; $259 to $429 standard facing Gulf; $319 to $979 for one- and two-bedroom suites on top two floors. Rates vary seasonally and are based on occupancy rates. Vacation packages start at $235 per room per night.

BEACH CLUB: $2,400 annual membership with $15,000 membership deposit refundable if you leave the club. Members receive a 15 percent discount on resort rooms, events, spa fees, food and beverages.

INFORMATION: (727) 441-2425;

sandpearl.com/

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib .com.

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