Nov. 30–Noah likely built the ark in less time than it took to get the Der Dutchman hotel project off the ground.
Or at least that's what Jeff Miller, the restaurant's general manager, told a small crowd at hotel's groundbreaking on Wednesday.
Der Dutchman's parent company, Ohio-based Dutchman Hospitality, has long planned to bring a hotel to the Amish-Mennonite neighborhood near the intersection of Bahia Vista Street and Beneva Road, and with the first turns of soil this week that vision is finally becoming a reality.
Construction should take about 13 months, said Miller, adding that he is hopeful the hotel will be serving guests by New Year's Day 2018.
"We're here, and we're glad to be here," Miller said.
The company has a long history in the Sarasota region. The Dutch Corp. opened Der Dutchman restaurant in 1985 in the Amish-Mennonite community, and then a much larger restaurant, with banquet facilities, debuted in 1999.
The family that owned Dutch Corp. divided their assets in 2001, breaking into Dutchman Hospitality and the Troyer Corp., which retained the Sarasota restaurant and renamed it Dutch Heritage. The hotel project already was in the works when Dutchman Hospitality reacquired the 12.5 acre property in 2012, but it was placed on hold as the company worked to reduce its debt to more manageable levels, said Mike Palmer, Dutchman Hospitality's president.
But the project gained momentum again in 2014.
"Little did we know it was going to be two and a half or almost three years later that we'd be here getting to this milestone of actual ground breaking," Palmer said.
The 85,000-square-foot hotel, known as the Carlisle Inn of Sarasota, will feature 100 rooms, 4,000-square-feet of meeting space and a large common area so that guests are encouraged to congregate outside of their sleeping quarters. About 30 percent of the rooms are suites and several will have built-in community space, so that large families and groups can have a more private place to gather.
Jana Martin, who moved to Sarasota from Missouri about 30 years ago, lives down the street from the site. She has been eating at Der Dutchman since it was just a small house, and she's excited for what the hotel will add to the neighborhood. She expects her friends and family members will use it when they come to visit. Today, they have to stay away from the neighborhood at hotels on Fruitville or Bee Ridge roads.
"It'll be clean, and you can have great food at the restaurant," Martin said. "It will have so many amenities right here in the community, and we love this community. This community is such a big part of Sarasota. It's a hidden gem, and I think that the blessing that comes with this hotel will be huge."
The Carlisle Inn will emphasize Amish and Mennonite values, but the property will have modern amenities not typically used in the culture, such as televisions, internet and the technology needed for business groups to give presentations. The hotel will have a swimming pool. Breakfast will be served on site.
But the backbone of the company comes from service. The hotel will employ 35 to 40 staff members to work the property. The employees will come from a variety of different backgrounds, but Palmer has said they will share the Amish principle of work ethic.
"We are a faith-based people and a faith-based organization, and it is our calling to glorify God and living out hospitality in an everyday practical way, by being kind, considerate and polite."
