Commissioners Give Preliminary Approval to Pink Palace Incentives

It looks like downtown Bradenton will get a hotel now that the County Commission has given preliminary approval to a plan to give developers $125,000 in economic development incentives and a county parking lot.

The County's staff will put together the economic development incentive package, designed to help get the decaying historic hotel property renovated, and bring that back to the County commission for formal approval.

The deal, while much smaller than what the city is offering in incentives, is vital because it includes much needed parking for the proposed hotel, slated to be a Hampton Inn. Hampton Inn requires that its properties have 125 dedicated parking spaces. But on Tuesday County Commissioner Joe McClash questioned giving away the county lot as an incentive to the development.

He pulled the item from the consent agenda and questioned whether the county, which has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in development incentives over the past year, could give the parking lot as an incentive.

Board members reminded McClash that the parking lot would not be the first time the ounty had donated property. Earlier this year, the county gave Manatee Glens.

The board voted 6-1 to have the county staff put together an economic incentive package for the hotel that includes both the $125,000 and the parking lot.

Will Robinson, a former chairman of the Downtown Development Authority, said that the deal will die unless the developer is guaranteed 125 dedicated spaces. The total number of spaces were pieced together using permits for downtown street parking, the county lot and spaces on 10th Street W.

Once the county staff designs and reviews the incentive package, it will come back to the County Commission for final consideration.