Naples developer plans Hilton along the ocean in Pompano Beach

A new Hilton hotel is planned on a site next to the 16-month-old municipal parking garage in Pompano Beach called the Pier Garage.
A new Hilton hotel is planned on a site next to the 16-month-old municipal parking garage in Pompano Beach called the Pier Garage.

A developer in Naples agreed to build a Hilton hotel on a city-owned site along the oceanfront in Pompano Beach.

Aashish Patel of Naples-based Madhav Group plans to develop the Hilton hotel on a city-owned parking lot next to the city’s flashy new parking garage, which opened in June 2016.

Patel expects to build a five-story Hilton with 150 rooms on the city’s parking lot at 3410 Pier Street in Pompano Beach. He told the Sun-Sentinel that he expects construction to start within 12 months.

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It would be the first new hotel in the area since the Sands Harbor Marina & Resort opened in 1965.

Patel committed to building the new hotel because of the city’s investments in upgrading its beach area, including $24 million to build the new parking garage complete with images of sails and a fish on its exterior.

The city also has built a splash park and upgraded a playground in the area, beautified a stretch of Atlantic Boulevard between Federal Highway and the beach, and added landscaping along a walkway next to the beach. [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth