Tampa developer revises plans for boutique hotel on Harbour Island
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 17, 2022

A Tampa developer is moving forward with plans to build a boutique hotel on Harbour Island — after making a few tweaks to his original plans.

Punit Shah on Thursday filed a new rezoning request with the city to make way for a 150-room hotel with the AC Hotel by Marriott flag. That's down from 180 rooms, which Shah first proposed in March 2021. Shah tweaked his plans after the surrounding neighborhood opposed the original proposal.

The initial proposal envisioned Hyatt's Thompson flag on the hotel.

Tampa City Council is expected to vote on the rezoning request in May.

“Our vision for this project is to provide Tampa’s downtown with additional upscale hotel rooms that are desperately needed to support the expanded Tampa Convention Center, Amalie Arena, and Water Street, while also staying true to the beauty and aesthetic of Harbour Island,” Shah said in a statement. “As a long-time business owner and resident of Harbour Island, my team listened and incorporated several major revisions to our original plan as suggested by neighbors, local businesses and community organizations.

"Like each of our other hotel developments in downtown Tampa, we understand that the best projects are built with collaborative input from the community," Shah said, "and I am confident that the new AC Hotel will fit seamlessly with the surrounding area.”

The hotel will replace the SunTrust Bank Building, which the developer describes as "an obsolete single-story wood framed building originally built in 1987 as a sales center for Harbour Island."

Shah also reduced the hotel from 15 to 12 stories and reduced the number of parking spaces from 228 to 160 total spaces. The hotel will also have a dedicated area for rideshare pick-up and drop-off traffic and expanded sidewalks to make the area safer for pedestrians.

“We are excited to collaborate again with Liberty Group on the AC Hotel in downtown Tampa,” Tim Sponsler, area vice president of development for Marriott Hotels, said in a statement. “Marriott looks forward to working with the design team to create an environment that fits into the fabric of Harbour Island, and that will provide guests with an authentic experience during their visit to downtown Tampa.”