Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/157038
Sarasota News Leader August 23, 2013 Page 40 "We can start and complete this in 16 months," "You could have asked the Ritz [Carlton] that Bridges added. "That is pretty exciting to us." question years ago when it was built, and it is Across the street, 275 hotel rooms are slated doing very well." as part of a proposed two-tower development Bridges pointed out that his hotel would fill a at Gulfstream Avenue and U.S. 41, the former site of the proposed Grande Sarasotan, a proj- different niche than its nearby neighbor: The Embassy Suites would "be a luxury hotel with ect that failed during the Great Recession. some five-star characteristics, but not in the The Embassy Suites — along with the Gulfstream project and anticipated redevelopment price range of the Ritz." of the former Quay site — would drastically Bridges is optimistic the project will "[take] change the several-block stretch of Tamiami on its own identity" at a visible location downTrail through the core of the city. town. "It is just a fun place," Bridges said when asked by the News Leader why downtown "We believe we make a statement, and this is a place to make a statement," he added. % draws hotel concepts. A 275-room hotel is planned for the intersection of U.S. 41 and Gulfstream Avenue. Photo by Norman Schimmel