March 10–LIDO KEY — Plans are underway to redevelop the Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach, long known as the Helmsley Sandcastle, into a larger and more contemporary waterfront hotel.
The vision calls for a new 304-room hotel spanning two curved towers that will be nine- and 10-stories tall on the six-acre beachside site on Ben Franklin Drive near Lido's south end.
Initially called simply "Sandcastle Resort" in project documents, the new facility would include a pool and deck overlooking hundreds of feet of private beach, two ballrooms, a spa and a restaurant, according to pre-application plans submitted to Sarasota city planners last month.
Built in 1953 and expanded in the '60s, the resort is one of the oldest beachfront hotels in Southwest Florida.
It has the unique distinction of having once been owned by a multimillionaire Maltese dog named "Trouble," who was bequeathed the hotel by his and the resort's long-time owners, New York billionaires Harry and Leona Helmsley.
But after the Helmsleys and eventually "Trouble" died, it briefly appeared the hotel would be sold and turned into luxury condominiums, much to the chagrin of local tourism officials who wanted one of the few remaining beachfront hotels to stay.
That became reality when a Delray Beach hotel group that also owned the Longboat Key Club purchased the property in early 2014 for $27.4 million, according to property records. They then announced the hotel would remain, rebranded as the Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach.
The new plans would cement a hotel on that property for years to come.
"It's a great hotel, great location and great history in the community," project consultant Bruce Franklin said Thursday. "It's just getting near the time it makes sense to update the resort. These buildings were built back in the '50s and '60s."
The acreage is zoned for residential units and the hotel is a non-conforming use, so the application for the new project would include a rezone to formally designate the property under "waterfront resort" zoning, Franklin wrote to city planners.
The proposal includes 637 total parking spaces in two garage levels with lobby, meeting room and guest room levels above, plans illustrate.
"I feel like we've dodged a second bullet," said Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley, who has long advocated the Sandcastle remain a hotel. "When that property was for sale, they were definitely selling for potential condos and we were so excited when Ocean Properties purchased it.
"We've know they've already made significant investments redoing the Hilton on Longboat and the Longboat Key Club and the Lido Beach Resort … To know they're moving ahead is really such good news."
City officials will review the initial proposal and discuss it as the Development Review Committee at 9 a.m. Wednesday at City Hall. The pre-application is simply a technical review of the project proposal and formal site plans, designs and renderings will follow this summer, Franklin said.
The project will require public hearings and input before the city's Planning Board and City Commission, which Franklin hopes can occur before the end of the year.
"We'll want to have formal designs and we're also reaching out to the Lido Key Residents Association and already had a few conversations with a few members of that organization," Franklin said. "We're in a very preliminary stage looking for the technical review from the city and then we'll get those formal designs."
