Resort shoots down rumors of Wal-Mart

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Suncoast Resort Hotel at 3000 34th St. S has not been bought by Wal-Mart for a supercenter, according to the resort's owners Tom Kiple and Lester Wolff.

"There's absolutely no truth to that," said Kiple, adding that a rumor to that effect was everywhere. He believes it is the work of a competitor who wants to hurt business at the 4-year-old resort, which caters to gays and lesbians.

"We've even had friends from Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., call and ask, "Why are you selling?' " Kiple said. "We're open and we're doing great."

Kiple said the Wal-Mart rumor has been heard about other businesses near his location. Wal-Mart tried to build a supercenter at 54th Avenue and 31st Street S in 1998. Residents in Lakewood neighborhood objected. Wal-Mart gave up after it was unable to obtain the zoning it needed from the city's Planning Commission.

Daphne Moore, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said she did not know of any ongoing property search in southern parts of the city by the retailer.

"We remain interested, but we don't have any definite plans at this time."

Vacant Scotty's store in Seminole is sold

SEMINOLE -- The vacant Scotty's on Seminole Boulevard finally has been sold by the Winter Haven-based hardware store chain.

Scotty's officials confirmed the sale but would not give any information about the new owner or what the sales price was. Late last year, Scotty's refused a high bid of $1.1-million at an auction for the building at 6780 Seminole Blvd., saying it wanted to get closer to $2-million for the building and 4.2 acres.

Scotty's closed the store last year to concentrate on running hardware stores in rural areas rather than large, home improvement stores in urban areas. The Seminole store opened in 1981.

Renovation stalled, old Bond Hotel is up for sale

ST. PETERSBURG -- The former Bond Hotel at 421 Fourth Ave. N is for sale for $2.8-million.

Market plans call for it to be advertised in the Wall Street Journal next week, according to Coldwell Banker commercial real estate agent Laura Sweeney.

"We've had interest from Virginia, New York, Las Vegas and California," Sweeney said. There has been tentative interest in changing it to an apartment or office building, she said, but plans are to sell it as a hotel.

"I'm showing it about twice a week," Sweeney said.

Owner Frans Geraets of Holland said earlier this year that he had run out of money to complete the renovation of the 101-room hotel, which he had renamed the Hollander Park Inn. Hollander was the hotel's name before it was bought by the Bond family. Geraets bought it from the Bonds four years ago.

A $1-million renovation was in progress early last year to turn the 1932 hotel into a boutique Travelodge. Geraets said it was more difficult to get money out of Europe after Sept. 11.

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