TradeWinds Island Resorts, which operates the Island Grand and RumFish Beach Resorts, on St. Pete Beach Florida is planning a major expansion of the property. Currently, Island Grand contains 545 hotel rooms, 10 restaurants and bars, and 5 pools with 450 cabanas. RumFish Beach Resort contains 352 hotel rooms, 5 restaurants and lounges, and 4 pools with 192 cabanas. With the expansion, TradeWinds will add more hotel rooms, restaurants, pools, and retail. The beach resort’s expansion plan will add nearly 850,000 square feet of additional resort space over the next 12 years, including: 650 upscale guest rooms, 33,000 square feet of conference space including a 20,000 square foot ballroom, 18,000 square feet of new retail space, Three new swimming pools with slides and other amenities for families, and over 1,600 parking spaces across three new parking garages. Additionally, the project will add a new 30-foot-wide landscaped, paved, and well-lit beach access which will be built, paid for, and maintained by TradeWinds. The expansion also includes a multi-million-dollar upgrade to the property’s infrastructure. A sophisticated stormwater drainage system will be installed on TradeWinds land that will address existing flooding concerns along TradeWinds’ side of Gulf Boulevard. Nunzio Marc DeSantis Architects is designing the expansion. The expansion will be built in four non-continuous phases with an estimated start of construction in 2023 and an estimated completion of the last phase in 2034. Phase 1, which will be constructed between 2023 and 2024, consists of a new 12-story 154-key hotel building and a 575-space parking garage. Phase 2, which is planned for 2028 through 2029, will add an 11-story 261-key hotel building, a 736-space parking garage, a conference center, and retail. Phase 3, which will rise between 2032 through 2034, contains a 12-story 235-unit hotel building, a 297-space parking garage, and retail. The last phase, which is also planned for 2032 through 2034, calls for a new two-story hotel lobby and 34-space parking deck. A majority of the expansion project will be built on underutilized surface parking lots. Only one small two-story building will be demolished to make way for development. In addition to Nunzio Marc DeSantis, the development team includes Perry-Becker, Harris Civil Engineering, Hill Ward Henderson, and Tarapani Planning Services.
