Joseph Cranney , joey.cranney@naplesnews.com; 239-213-6035Published 12:29 p.m. ET May 1, 2017 | Updated 23 hours ago
The owners of the long vacant Third Street Plaza want to tear down the shopping center for a 118-room hotel. Wochit
The owners of the long-vacant Third Street Plaza in downtown Naples submitted plans to tear down the old shopping center and convert the property into a 118-room hotel.
The concept from owners Anne D. Camalier and Charles A. Camalier III includes a two-story hotel along Gordon Drive and Broad Avenue South, plus another two floors of hotel rooms over ground-floor retail abutting Third Street South.
The hotel would include a fitness room, solarium, spa, and an indoor and outdoor cafe. The retail space would include 5,600 square feet and three stores.
The plans represent the most significant proposal in years for the run-down plaza, often described as an eyesore on the otherwise bustling Third Street.
John Passidomo, the Camaliers’ lawyer, said the owners are confident the plans will be viable, after having consulted with hotel operators and held a market study.
A building rendering shows a proposed three-story hotel building with ground-floor retail abutting Third Street South in downtown Naples. (Photo: Courtesy Hart Howerton Partners, Ltd.)
“They believe that a pre-eminent hotel will make a significant contribution to the Third Street Shopping District, the surrounding residential neighborhood and the entire city of Naples, and they have every confidence that it will be economically successful,” he said.
Passidomo said the Camaliers haven’t yet picked retail tenants. The project won’t include restaurants, Passidomo said, to avoid competing with other properties on Third Street.
“The developer recognizes that there are many extraordinary existing restaurants in the Third Street Shopping District and will therefore limit the use of the commercial space to retail,” he said.
The Camaliers plan to fulfill the property’s parking requirements with a partially underground garage and a yet-to-be-determined amount of spaces.
A building rendering shows a proposed three-story hotel and retail building on Third Street South and an adjacent two-story hotel along Broad Avenue South in downtown Naples. (Photo: Courtesy Hart Howerton Partners, Ltd.)
The hotel would add to the already growing offering of lodging in downtown Naples.
The 183-room Hyatt House opened on the Gordon River last year. Before that, Naples hotelier Phil McCabe in 2012 added 32 club suites to his Inn on Fifth, bringing that hotel’s number of rooms to 119.
Other downtown hotels include The Escalante, near Fifth Avenue South; Bayfront Inn; Trianon Old Naples on Seventh Avenue South; and Bellasera Hotel on U.S. 41.
“I think they’re starting to see an increase in demand,” said Robin Singer, the city’s planning director.
The Camaliers’ hotel is scheduled for initial review by the Naples design review board May 24 and would require final approval from the Naples City Council.
A building rendering shows the proposed courtyard of a 118-room hotel and retail project along Third Street South in downtown Naples. (Photo: Courtesy Hart Howerton Partners, Ltd.)
There had been rumblings for months that the owners were planning a hotel to replace the Third Street Plaza.
The plaza, more than 25 years old, saw most of its tenants shut down and vacate the property during the recession in the mid-2000s. Tenants had complained of shoddy management from the landlord and poor marketing.
The Camaliers took over the property, now valued at $4.9 million, in 2010 after Wells Fargo foreclosed on the mortgage.
Now the plaza is vacant, with staining and cracking on much of the sidewalk. Wires hang from the ceilings of empty shops.
In 2013, Passidomo hinted that the property could be razed for a hotel. But those plans didn’t immediately materialize.