Bradenton-area convention hotel project stalls

Construction had been expected to start next month, but increased cost estimates have put the project on hold

The Bradenton Area Convention Center
The Bradenton Area Convention Center

An increase in estimated construction costs has stalled plans to break ground for a new 250-room Sheraton hotel next to the Bradenton Area Convention Center.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Improvement Network Development Partners (INDP) had planned to start construction of the hotel next month.

But Anthony DeRusso, director of project development at INDP, told the Bradenton Herald that increased estimates of construction costs have delayed the groundbreaking.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

DeRusso also told the newspaper that INDP will ask the Manatee County Commission for almost $2 million of subsidies to cover the hotel’s construction costs.

The hotel development site is next to the Bradenton Area Convention Center, which is located north of Bradenton, across the Manatee River, in Palmetto.

The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) pledged $8 million to the hotel construction project in exchange for a donation of county land where the hotel would be located.

But the CRA won’t disburse the $8 million until INDP is ready to start construction. [Bradenton Herald]Mike Seemuth