New Bradenton convention center hotel will be a resort ‘destination.’ Take a sneak peek

When the eight-story, 252-room Marriott opens next door to the Bradenton Area Convention Center in early 2024, it will be more than a hotel.

It will be at the heart of a new destination.

Planned for the property is 10,000-square-feet of retail space, facing an amphitheater with stage that can accommodate 5,500 people, plus another retail space totaling 7,500 square feet.

Potential anchor tenants include Italian and Asian restaurants, a drive-thru coffee shop and a car showroom.

Also planned: 10,000 square feet of meeting space, a 50,000-gallon swimming pool and a recording studio, for possible special event coverage.

Several years in the future, there could be a second hotel on the property, this one planned for 121 rooms.

Although it won’t be opened at the same time as the Marriott Palmetto, a multi-million dollar private beach club for hotel guests is planned across the street at the Riviera Dunes property, including a golf putting course, a restaurant, bocce ball and pickleball.

“It’s a prototype, the first of its kind,” Greg Ciaccio, general manager, said of the resort complex. “Everything will be best in class.”

A ship on land

The Marriott Palmetto Resort is designed as a “ship on land,” from its rooftop Oyster River restaurant with panoramic views of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and Bradenton-Palmetto, down to its ground floor and boardwalk-like promenade that skirts the front side of the building.

The hotel will have three kitchens, one to serve the Oyster River restaurant, another to serve the ground level The Social restaurant and a third to cater special events and gatherings.

Ciaccio is the first staff member to come on board, and they’re looking to hire 225-250 people.

While the hotel will be a destination onto itself, it is also part of a broader community vision that stretches from Tampa in the north to south of Sarasota and all that Southwest Florida has to offer.

The Yard, as the amphitheater and stage and surrounding retail is called, is planned for events 365 days a year. About half of them would be community oriented.

Community events could include food truck rallies, winter celebrations and more.

“We’re coming here to be partners with the community and help the community,” Ciacco said.

The Yard could also host Bucs football watch and Lightning hockey watch parties on big screen TVs, concerts and more, Ciacco said.

A $150 million project

Combined, the Marriott Palmetto project and expansion of the Bradenton Area Convention Center represent about a $150 million investment, Ciacco said.

In April, the Manatee County Commission approved a $48 million renovation of the convention center, which would seamlessly connect it to the Marriott Palmetto and add a 14,000-square-foot ballroom, seating 800 banquet-style.

The convention center project won’t be completed until after the hotel opens.

Managing partner Tony DeRusso first took a look at the property about seven or eight years ago on his computer from northern California.

But it took his first visit to the area, where he saw the Manatee River, Palmetto and Bradenton, as well as SeaPort Manatee, Tropicana, IMG Academy, Feld Entertainment, and the pull of all of Southwest Florida to convince him that this was the right place for what he envisioned.

“We knew all along that we needed to create a destination,” DeRusso said Tuesday.

“It’s the story of a million little miracles, it’s about faith and perseverance,” DeRusso said of the struggle to win buy-in, to persist through COVID, supply chain issues, a labor shortage and higher interest rates.

All that Southwest Florida has to offer is an important part of the Marriott Palmetto marketing, from Lake Manatee State Park to Lakewood Ranch and Premier Sports Campus to the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training, the River Regatta, the Manatee County beaches and more.

Economic revitalization

Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Marriott Palmetto, is important to the economic revitalization of the urban core stretching from One Haben Blvd., the address of the convention center, all the way to LECOM Park in Bradenton.

In June, the Manatee County Tourist Development Council recommended the Manatee County Commission contribute $5 million over three years for a project to add a third baseball field to LECOM Park.

A third field at the City of Bradenton-owned park, 1611 Ninth St. W. would open the complex for state, regional and national tournaments and facilitate downtown revitalization.

“The six weeks of Pittsburgh Pirates spring training has an economic impact of $40 million to Manatee County. How do you expand that asset?” Falcione said in June.

Over the next 30 years, the Marriott Palmetto could help bring $25 million a year — about three-quarters of a billion dollars — to the local community, Falcione said.

“The return exceeds the investment,” Falcione said.

“This is one of the best partnerships we can have and benefits visitors and residents alike,” Falcione said.