Hoteliers plan Hyatt in Lakewood Ranch

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Hotel developers Steve Mullen and Angus Rogers hope their future beacon of blue will draw weary travelers off the interstate and into Lakewood Ranch’s newest hotel project — Hyatt Place Lakewood Ranch.

The new 122-room, five-level hotel in Lakewood Ranch, located off Exchange Way, likely will open in October 2016. A unique, LED-lit “sail” feature will make the hotel easily visible from I-75.

“We’ve been looking at this market for a number of years,” Mullen said, noting Floridays Development put the property under contract in July 2014, but the site had to be re-platted. “It set us back until now. The market is very frothy with a mid-80% occupancy rate. That’s strong. Usually, low to mid-70s is more typical. Daily rates are more than $130 in that area.”

Once opened, the new hotel will cater to the Lakewood Ranch community, particularly businesses, as well as regional sporting events hosted at Nathan Benderson Park or Premier Sports Campus. 

"With the amount of growth we're seeing here in Lakewood Ranch with venues such as Premier, the polo fields and the rowing facility, we're going to need those rooms to support those venues," said Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance Executive Director Heather Kasten said. "And, as people move here, people come visit those people and those rooms are going to be much needed."

Antonio Saviano, director of Premier Sports Campus, agreed. 

“Having access to more hotel rooms allows us to go after and promote other events that we would not normally be able to host," Saviano said. "We love everyone to stay in Lakewood Ranch and Manatee and Sarasota counties when we host events and that has not always happened before. This is just another step that will help us.”

Mullen said Hyatt Place Lakewood Ranch will offer the same level of service as other hotels in the University Parkway/Interstate 75 corridor, but will have some additional amenities, including a lobby bar area and a bistro that offers stop-and-go lunch and dinner options, as well as a hot breakfast. It will have a pool area and cabana, as well as one 1,000-square-foot meeting room, among other amenities.

“The level of service is consistent with how we envision a hotel in this area,” Mullen said. 

Although the hotel is located north of the Fairfield Inn & Suites and is visible from I-75, a conservation area offers a scenic backdrop for rooms on the eastern side of the property.

Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch already has begun clearing the site and developers expect construction to start in November.

The hotel is Floridays Development’s first venture with the Hyatt brand, as well as with Michigan-based hotel operator Lodgco Hospitality. Mullen said he looks forward to other franchise opportunities with Hyatt and also envisions more projects with Lodgco. In fact, Floridays already is working on another project with the company for a hotel on Casey Key. 

Although Floridays has been developing hotels since 1990, Hyatt Place Lakewood Ranch is its first hotel in the Lakewood Ranch area and one of just a few in the Sarasota market. 

“It’s a treat to have something so close to home,” Mullen said, noting the company has a Hilton-brand hotel under construction in Orlando. 

Despite the addition of other hotel projects in the area, including Benderson Development Co.’s Homewood Inn & Suites by The Mall at University Town Center, and others farther west in Sarasota, Mullen and Rogers said they remain optimistic their hotel will see success even once hotel room inventory catches up with the market’s demands — and, perhaps, even over saturates it.

“The area has had so much positive media,” Mullen said. “If you go to Siesta Beach, it’s so much more concentrated with people than in years past. The traffic never seems to stop, and I used to live on Siesta. All the positive media Sarasota has attracted lately, we’re going to see growth. We feel very bullish on the Sarasota market.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].