Aug. 30–There’ll be a new kid in town in the luxury hotel business this fall at Harbourside, and the general manager says the 179-room waterfront Wyndham Grand Jupiter will compete with The Breakers and PGA National Resort & Spa.

“Palm Beach County is a destination for golf, fishing and other activities. With all the activities in and around Harbourside — boating, beaches, restaurants — we will be a destination within a destination,” said Matt Boris, 39, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who was formerly hotel manager of the 400-room Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek.

But the general manager of PGA National said he doesn’t expect to lose many customers to the Grand Wyndham.

“We have golf and the spa. Jupiter Resort has the beach. The Breakers is The Breakers. Grand Wyndham has the Intracoastal Waterway. We all have our niche,” said Joel Paige, who manages the 800-acre resort that is the home of The Honda Classic and has 339 rooms and and 40 two-bedroom cottages.

The five-story Grand Wyndham hotel, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, 15,000 square feet of meeting space and a wide marble staircase in the main lobby, is the first luxury hotel built in Palm Beach County since the 134-room Omphoy Ocean Resort opened in Palm Beach in 2009.

Northern Palm Beach County is “starving” for more luxury hotels, Paige said.

“(Wyndham Grand) will certainly enhance Jupiter’s upscale lodging offerings, and further enrich the choices of travelers to our area,” said David Burke, Breakers’ vice president of sales and marketing.

Wyndham Grand is part of the Harbourside development that includes two five-story parking garages with 929 total spaces. Also planned is about 112,000 square feet of hotel space, 66,000 square feet of retail, 55,000 square feet of office space and 33,000 square feet of restaurant space with outdoor seating. Stores such as Bravo restaurant, Chico’s women’s clothing and Tommy Bahama clothing and home goods plan to open.

Parking will be validated, the same as CityPlace. The first two hours for every vehicle will be free and every subsequent hour will be $1.50. When Jupiter holds public events at the Harbourside’s amphitheatre, parking will be free, Boris said.

Grand Wyndham plans to sell local products, such as pastry from Jupiter Doughnuts on Center Street, beers from the Tequesta Brewing Co. on U.S. 1 and seafood from north county fishermen. Boris has hired a local historian to speak with employees to make them familiar with the history of Jupiter.

“The hotel selling our beer will help us. Say an out-of-town person staying at the hotel likes the beer in the Wyndham bar. The bartender tells him or her the brewery that makes the beer is right up the street. We get a new customer,” said Matthew Webster, the brewer at Tequesta Brewery.

Grand Wyndham, along with its Orlando hotel, is building hotels in Clearwater and South Beach. The company chose Harbourside because it is an “entertainment destination,” Boris said.

He declined to give information on room rates.

“We are not trying to be The Breakers. That is an iconic hotel. Wyndham Grand has its own niche, which is brand loyalty,” he said.