Oct. 29–The Hyatt Place Hotel and Faro Blanco Resort & Marina is slated for a Dec. 16 opening 14 years after Spottswood Cos. Vice President Bill Spottswood purchased the iconic Marathon hotel in May of 2000. The resort closed in October 2005 due to Hurricane Wilma flooding.
General Manager Steve Robbins said the operating company hopes to fill the estimated 100 jobs needed to run the 125-room resort with Keys residents rather than busing in workers from Miami-Dade County, which many Keys business do because of the lack of affordable housing Monroe County.
“Workers from the mainland isn’t realistic for us,” Robbins said. “We’re beyond the bus stop at Kmart and busing doesn’t seem very practical at the moment.”
City Planning Director George Garrett said he has toured the hotel and believes workers will be hired locally. “There’s an advantage for them to hire here,” Garrett said. “The person probably already has a place to live.”
The once-popular resort and marina at mile marker 47.5 bayside was a main attraction for tourists in the Middle Keys when it was open. According to the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s Office, the final purchase price for Faro Blanco was $8 million.
Hotel features include 24-hour food service, a 24-hour fitness center, two heated pools and a 74-slip marina. Each room will come with Wi-Fi and 135 channels on DirectTV.
Accessibility to Keys residents was one of the biggest draws of Faro Blanco and Robbins said the hotel will accommodate locals.
“One of our two pools adjacent to our new Lighthouse Grill Restaurant will be available to our local guests,” Robbins said in an e-mail. “The difference is considerable, however, in that the previous Olympic-size pool accommodated a much larger number of guests. We will need to monitor how this works and then adjust accordingly.”
The economic downturn during the last decade put construction on hold for Spottswood Cos.
After the Hyatt opens, Robbins said the Spottswood Cos. plans to build 14 affordably priced apartments to house workers. Future developments include the redevelopment of the Boot Key Marina.
The Spottswoods also own the Holiday Inn Express at the other end of Marathon. It has a combined 134 rooms and suites and plans are to expand.
Garrett said another new Marathon hotel, the 95-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel almost adjacent to the Hyatt, is slated for completion early next year.
