4 towers of condos proposed for beach

If built, the $350-million project would be one of the bay area's most expensive and include restaurants and shops.

By JENNIFER FARRELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 16, 2003

CLEARWATER -- A local developer plans to build a $350-million luxury residential and retail complex on Clearwater Beach that would include a marina and public boardwalk on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The development, just north of the beach entrance in a run-down, 10-acre strip along East Shore Drive, would include four condominium towers, as well as townhouses, restaurants, boutiques and a two-level parking garage.

If completed, the project would be one of the most expensive in Tampa Bay area history. By comparison, International Plaza in Tampa cost about $200-million, and recent major projects such as BayWalk in St. Petersburg and Centro Ybor in Tampa were built for under $50-million each.

But concerns about the Clearwater proposal's height -- two of the towers were initially planned to be 150 feet each -- have city officials taking a wait-and-see approach.

"I think it's great that somebody may be able to clean up that retail area," Mayor Brian Aungst said Wednesday. "But it's got to pass the court of public opinion."

Bob Metz of Metco Real Estate & Insurance, a developer of upscale homes and apartments in Clearwater, has been working on the project since 1999, said his lawyer, Jerry Figurski.

"It is really a work in progress," Figurski said.

The project would include 350 to 420 residential units, with floor-to-ceiling windows, front and back, allowing for views of the bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

Designed in what Figurski described as an "Old Florida, Key West" style, the condo units would range from 2,300 to 3,500 square feet and would include private elevator access to each foyer.

As for the question of height, Figurski declined to comment.

"We're still in the process of designing it," he said. "I just don't want to answer that. The architect is still working on the plans."

Multifamily buildings built in that area can be 100 feet, or roughly 10 stories, Assistant City Manager Ralph Stone said. With special permission from the Community Development Board, a developer could build up to 15 levels, he said.

Beach By Design, a plan for construction on Clearwater Beach, offers incentives for developers to assemble multiple parcels. But stricter regulations in the plan limit buildings there to 100 feet.

"Technically, they have the right to file an application," Stone said. "They're going to have to make a case for that."

Aungst said the initial proposal seemed too high, but he said skyrocketing land costs have complicated the difficult formula of beach development.

"These guys have got to get a certain level of density and height or else they can't make the numbers work," he said. "If he can put together anything that makes any sense, we've got to look at it because it's going to be nearly impossible to put the land together again like this."

Metz's company owns and runs the 120-unit Williamsburg Place apartments on Nursery Road, office buildings and strip malls on Belcher Road and Drew Street and has built homes in Pinellas County.

With his North Mandalay Investment Group Inc., he plans to buy the two blocks on the east and west sides of East Shore Drive between Pier 60 Drive and Baymont Street, then tear down the small, aging motels and shops along the strip.

Figurski said Metz has all but two of the 64 properties in question under contract and he expects to ink deals on the remaining parcels next week. Metz, 60, hopes to submit plans to the city by next month and begin construction on the 40-month project sometime next year, Figurski said.

If approved, the project would border another luxury condominium complex being developed directly across Baymont by David Mack. For his project, which includes one 99-foot tower and one 130-foot tower, Mack received special permission from the city to amend Beach By Design's height requirements.

Mack's attorney, Clearwater zoning and land use lawyer Ed Armstrong, said deals of such magnitude are tricky.

"Generally, projects of this complexity are very hard to pull together," he said. "The lending environment is very tight right now. There certainly are a lot of challenges."

Figurski dismissed concerns that the new project would create too much concentrated high-rise condominium development at the expense of new hotels and resorts in the area.

"I think this will just be great for the city," he said. "Any major hotel wants beach access. This backs up to the bay. . . . The hotels just weren't interested."

-- Jennifer Farrell can be reached at 445-4160 or mailto:<a%20href= ">farrell@sptimes.com .

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