Longboat Key Club entrance project aims for Thanksgiving completion

The Resort at Longboat Key Club has begun construction to reroute its entrance to the Islandside Resort, a project that’s been framed as the first steps toward building a new hotel on the property.

Construction of the road began April 9, said General Manager Jeff Mayers, about two months after the Town Commission approved the project to reroute Longboat Club Drive north into the Islandside driving range.

The resort has designated an interim driving range for golfers, who will, by the resort’s timeline, be hitting balls near a new entrance to the resort by Thanksgiving.

The focus of this project is “to further enhance the arrival experience” for Longboat Key Club guests and residents, Mayers said. The general manager of the Club also said “there has not been further dialog” in regard to building a hotel on the property since a referendum approving its construction in 2015.

Ocean Properties attorney John Patterson said late last year that this project was an “in furtherance” of the Resort at Longboat Key Club’s plans to build a hotel on the property. Ocean Properties has not submitted plans for this project to the town.

The project is designed to realign Longboat Club Drive to the north, making the parcel to the south larger. It also includes landscape for the roadway with new foliage and a new gatehouse.

An application for the project submitted past fall shows the roadway lined by palm trees — oak trees edge the drive now. Developers hope to redesign the entrance with a new sign, water feature and columns surrounded by seasonal annuals.

Developers have also proposed a left-turn lane into the southern parcel before the new gatehouse, a turn lane that leads to what is now unused tennis courts.