BEACH PARK - The Clarion Hotel building is going to be a hotel again.

The city council unanimously voted to rezone the vacant building, 5303 W. Kennedy Blvd., back to a hotel, this time a Crowne Plaza.

MHI Hospitality plans to renovate the metal shell of the 120-foot-tall building from top to bottom, add a ground-floor ballroom and a restaurant. The top floor will become hotel rooms and the three-story portion in back will become suites, said Jim Shimberg, a representative for the developer.

The hotel will remain at 250 rooms, Shimberg said.

"While it might have been for the best to bulldoze, it is not economically feasible," he told the council Thursday night. "We are going to do a complete renovation."

The council previously rezoned the property to allow for hotel rooms and residential condos. The developer hopes to open the Crowne Plaza in time for the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa.

"We're making an improvement to it in a large way," Shimberg said. "You won't be able to recognize it from what it looks like right now."

Margaret Vizzi, a member of the board of directors of the Beach Park Homeowners Association, said the neighborhood supports the hotel plan. Neighbors objected to the previous rezoning because it allowed residential units and they worried about cut-through traffic.

"We felt in the beginning a hotel was needed in this area," Vizzi said.

Reporter Michael H. Samuels can be reached at (813) 835-2109 or msamuels@tampatrib.com.