Tampa Bay Beaches
New Name, New Vision, New Life
by Bob Andelman

THE FUTURE SEEN Doreen Moore, president of Travel Resort Services and a key player among Pinellas’ beach communities.

Everyone has a favorite beach. Some might prefer the touristy atmosphere and wide sand of Clearwater Beach, others the more secluded shores of Redington, or the public access of Fort DeSoto Park. What folks in Pinellas County have lacked is a common way of referring to their beaches.

That’s not su-prising, considering there are 11 communities along the 27 miles of beach. For years, area chambers of commerce referred to the strip as Florida’s “Gulf Beaches.” But considering that every beach from Marco Island in southwest Florida to Destin in the Panhandle could be considered a “Gulf” beach, that didn’t really carve out a viable brand.

Two years ago somebody came up with a> better tourist trap: Tampa Bay Beaches. The name irked traditionalists who hate anything that lumps the communities of Pinellas under the vague umbrella of Tampa Bay anything. And technically, it doesn’t include Clearwater Beach, which operates an independent chamber of commerce. But the truth is that the nation knows the region as Tampa Bay, for better or worse, city limits be darned. And there’s no arguing with results, either.

In the first year of marketing the Tampa Bay Beaches – under the aegis of the newly dubbed “Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce” – name recognition was nothing less than spectacular.

“Our new Web site is hugely successful,” says Beaches Chamber President and CEO Debbie Stambaugh. “We went from 42,000 page-views two years earlier as gulfbeaches. com and hit a record high in January 2003 with 1.6 million hits – triple the best month we ever had before. We know that was a good move for us.” The new Web address – www.tampabay beaches.com.

Some of those visitors were no doubt drawn by the Buccaneers’ winning appearance in the Super Bowl – Tampa Bay was being talked about everywhere.

The beaches chamber includes 10 beach communities and two mainland com-munities. Count Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst among those in favor of the brand name change. “People come to our beaches,” he says. “They may know the Tampa name better. You use what’s to your advantage.”

For Stambaugh, changing the brand was just the start of a new approach to marketing the beaches. Not that events gave the chamber much choice; 9/11 put a huge dent in the traditional European, Canadian and Midwest loyalties to the area. More recently, the con-vergence of war in Iraq, skyrocketing gas prices and a struggling economy have shaken tourism, Pinellas County’s top industry. “Keeping our share of the market is a chal-lenge,” Stambaugh says.

Statistics show that the drive market – people who live within a day’s drive of Tampa Bay’s beaches – represents an important target. That meant reaching out to potential visitors as far north as Atlanta and convincing visitors to Orlando’s theme parks to commit a portion of their vacation to the gentle beaches of the west coast.

Attracting local meetings and conventions to Tampa Bay Beaches is equally important. “A section of our Web site is designed to attract corporate business,” says Stambaugh. “We’re working with large corporations in the area to establish relationships with them.” Resorts such as the Don CeSar (www.doncesar.com) and TradeWinds (www.tradewindsresort.com) in St. Pete Beach offer a unique setting for conventions and business meetings, with the beach just steps beyond their facilities. Batting cleanup to the chamber’s efforts is the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. Its Web site (www.floridas-beach.com) provides details on the meeting space of resorts dotting the Pinellas coastline – information that can be requested by location, by maximum meeting size handled and by hotel name.

The Beaches chamber is maximizing this corporate connection to also recruit tourists. It targets human resource directors at major companies along Interstates 4 and 75, the highways that feed the Tampa Bay area.

THIS IS WORK? A newly refreshed room at the TradeWinds, a resort popular for blending conferences, meetings and pleasure.

Employees at Publix Super Markets in Lakeland, Shands Hospital in Gainesville and Winn Dixie in Jacksonville, for example, are enticed with discounts on lodging and dining. “Our intent is to build a relationship with these people,” Stambaugh says. “A lot of the HR departments go out and find benefits such as these to offer their employees.”

The next step will be in the development of a pass-coded area of the chamber’s Web site where employees of these companies will find hot deals crafted especially for them. Another potentially lucrative project: tourism with St. Petersburg, Russia. The minister of tourism and another official recently visited as guests of the beaches chamber. St. Petersburg, Russia, has a population of 6 million, 25 percent of whom are affluent by Western standards. They take one solid month annually for vacation.

“Their destination of the moment is Thailand,” Stambaugh says. “I asked the minister, ‘Why Thailand?’ He said, ‘Because Thailand wanted us. But now we’re ready for something else.’”

A direct flight from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Thailand takes 12 hours; a direct flight to the Tampa Bay beaches would take roughly nine hours. It’s a long shot, admits Stambaugh, adding: “You have to think out of the box now.”

Madeira Beach ’s Fresh Look
John’s Pass Village & Boardwalk is an eclectic collection of beach shops, restaurants and casual attitudes that represents a focal point of commercial activity along the Tampa Bay beaches. Two developers are pumping a fresh dose of adrenaline and a lot of cash into the beach with new projects book-ending it to the north and south.

Madeira Bay (www.trsinc.com) was the first project announced. Developed by local resident Sam Lewis’ Ameris Realty and mar-May keted by Travel Resort Services (TRS), it is a $50-million mixed-use project that will consume two city blocks at the north end. To say that the community is ready for Madeira Bay might be an understatement. “When we went before the board of adjustment for variances,” says TRS co-owner Joe Jorgensen, “people were actually clapping.” The first phase of construction, which is already underway, consists of 13 townhomes. Eight sold before development began. Construction plans include a 30- to 40-unit condominium, 10,000 square feet of retail space and a 90-room ‘condotel,’ a new hybrid of condos and hotels. “Twenty percent of our condos are already spoken for,” says Doreen Moore, owner and president of TRS and the current board chair of the Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce.

At the south end of John’s Pass Village, one of the city’s best-known families is preparing to invest $15 million in another project that shows confidence in the community’s. Hubbard Enterprises plans to build a three-story, 400-car parking garage on Gulf Blvd. It will have ground-floor retail and a 28-room hotel.

“Our family has put our hearts and souls into this,” says Patricia Hubbard, chief financial officer for Hubbard Enterprises. “But it’s also scary; all our eggs are in this basket.” Hubbard says that her family was inspired, as were the developers of Madeira Bay, by the city’s new master plan.

“With the boardwalk renovations by the city, the timing is right, interest rates being what they are,” Hubbard says. “From Madeira Bay to us will define the beach in the years to come.”

When the parking structure is complete (construction is expected to start in August), Hubbard Enterprises (www.hubbardsmarina.com) intends to rebuild some of the buildings it owns west of the Friendly Fisherman restaurant along the boardwalk. Why is so much new construction being announced in Madeira Beach now? “Why not now?” replies City Manager Jim Madden. “The city has positioned itself. We developed a master plan that addresses rede-velopment and how we’d like to see our community advance in the next 10, 15 and 20 years.”

Views of Clearwater Beach
Once upon a time, in the vacation wonderland of Clearwater Beach, a hideous traffic monster known with great disdain as the “roundabout” induced much foul language from drivers. The roundabout is improved now and its legacy is at long last a positive one.

BEACH CASTLE A rendering of Madeira Bay, a $50-million, mixed-use project that will shape the north face of Madeira Beach.

“The city took a lot of heat for the round-about,” says Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst. “But the entryway to Clearwater Beach spurred economic development. It brought in two large condominium projects that took out 50-year-old buildings.”

Sheila Cole, executive director of the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce, says this is an exciting time. “We’re putting a whole new face on Clearwater Beach. The city is putting in fantastic amenities, wider sidewalks, sidewalk cafes, beautiful landscap-ing. This is a much-needed facelift.”

Aungst and Cole say a slew of new developments are in the works for their beach:

• JMC Communities of St. Petersburg is the operating partner of Belle Harbor (www.belleharbor.com), a 200-condominium project on Mandalay Avenue.

• A meandering beachwalk/road is planned for the south beach. This one-way street with 15-foot sidewalks is designed to encourage sidewalk cafes. On the opposite side of the street, bike and jogging paths will be added.

• The owner of the Days Inn has plans to renovate that resort.

• “The Holiday Inn SunSpree recently approached us about re-doing their resort,” Aungst says. “They’ve already put millions into it, but it’s still a 50-year-old building.”

Height and density variances are serious issues along the beaches. Residents tell the mayor, “We don’t want another Sand Key,” which is localspeak for a beach that can no longer be seen because of all the towering condominiums along the shore.

“Clearwater Beach is a built-out communi-ty,” Aungst says. “You need to go up a little bit, 100 to 150 feet. People are concerned we’re going to wall off their beach. We’re keeping view corridors. There are a lot of things on the bubble to be approved.” One is Bluewater Isle (www.bluewater-isle. com), a proposal that stirs Clearwater’s mayor to poetry. “It dresses up a worn-down area of old motels,” Aungst says.

Covering four blocks and 1,700 feet of intercoastal waterfront, the $350-million luxury condominium and retail complex is like nothing ever built on the beach. Local developer Bob Metz says Bluewater Isle conforms to and, in many ways, takes advantage of the Clearwater’s “Beach by Design” vision of the community’s future. He sees upscale condominiums in the air above the street and an inviting ground level with shopping, restaurants and a 250-slip marina.

“I’m local, born and bred in Clearwater,” Metz says. “I understand the value of having a boardwalk along the water. It’s a destination. Tourists love to see these things.”

The developer is confident that he can sell his product in today’s difficult market. In fact, he already has. In the first two hours that he offered units for sale, 24 sold at prices ranging from $700,000 to $2 million. The amenities don’t hurt, of course: floor-to-ceiling will reveal stunning vistas of Clearwater Harbour or the Gulf of Mexico. And for anyone who tires of Mother Nature, plasma screen TVs will drop from the ceilings. All units will be accessible from private elevators.

As in Madeira Beach, the developers have enjoyed an unusually warm reception from beach residents. “We’ve had four or five standing ovations (at city meetings),” Metz says. “This project takes care of 10 acres they really want redeveloped.”

St.Pete Beach Plans
St. Pete Beach isn’t seeing the same new construction opportunities that Madeira Beach and Clearwater Beach are, which is why City Manager Mike Bonfield says the time is right for a redevelopment plan. “We look at sections of the city that haven’t prospered and which should get improvements,” he says. “That’s a big planning project.”

One change for the district is already under way, as Blind Pass Road expands from two lanes to five. And a substantial property in St. Pete Beach did get a major sprucing up last year. The TradeWinds Island Resort completed an $8-million renovation of its 585 guest-rooms.

“We wanted to make a splash this year,” says Susan Kennedy, director of creative services for the resort. “This was a great new way to market the property.” Another new way? How about an animated billboard promoting sunny beaches in Manhattan’s Times Square during a winter storm. “We knew it would be bitter cold that week,” Kennedy says. “It made the phone ring. And a lot of people went to the Web site; we noticed a spike in hits.”