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Digging starts on new hotel downtown

Largo officials break ground on the city's first brand-name hotel, a Hampton Inn. The project is a key part of the revitalization effort.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published January 19, 2005

LARGO - Officials broke ground Tuesday on what they called a milestone in the city's downtown revitalization efforts.

The planned 62,981-square-foot Hampton Inn on East Bay Drive is Largo's first brand-name hotel.

"This is a great transformation today," Mayor Bob Jackson said. "We're finally going to have a hotel with a Largo address."

Construction crews are about a week away from pouring the concrete slab that the hotel will sit on, said George Glover, chief executive and chairman of the Tampa-based BayStar Hotel Group.

The city sold the 2.6-acre site across from Central Park, formerly the home of the Largo Police Department, to BayStar for $800,000 in November.

The $8-million Hampton Inn & Suites-Largo Towne Centre will open in the fall, Glover said, and will include 92 guest rooms, a boardroom, 1,500 square feet of meeting space, a swimming pool and an exercise room.

All rooms will include microwaves, refrigerators and free high-speed Internet access, he said. Nightly room rates will range from $79 to $129.

A brick from the old Police Department building, presented by Jackson at the ceremony, will sit behind the front desk.

Glover said he expects the hotel's location and competitive rates to attract business travelers, tourists and Largo residents who need a place to put up visitors.

"If you look around the Largo community, you'll see homes that are typically 2,000 square feet and under," he said. "They don't have a lot of space, so when the grandchildren come to visit or grandparents come to visit, it will be a haven for them."

Glover grew up in Largo, and the 1966 Clearwater Central Catholic High School graduate told the audience about his days popping popcorn at his father's movie theater just a few blocks away.

He recalled how movie theater patrons would throw popcorn and candy at him as he roamed the aisles, "shining the light on couples who were enjoying the movie or maybe weren't enjoying the movie but should have been."

After Tuesday's ceremony, the city's movers and shakers munched on freshly popped popcorn and candies such as Junior Mints, Milk Duds and Twizzlers.

And the only thing they threw Glover's way was praise.

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at 727 445-4170 or cshoichet@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 19, 2005, 00:33:17]