By Mark Albright, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.
Feb. 18--ST. PETE BEACH, Fla.--Now that the TradeWinds Resort has added a 380-room hotel to its collection, the
new management is changing the name and claiming bragging rights as the largest resort on Florida's west Coast.
The new name for the three-hotel resort spread over 35 acres of gulf front is the TradeWinds Island Resort. Managers
unveiled the name at a grand opening Thursday for $20-million worth of improvements at the combined resort that
now has 1,136 rooms, nine pools, seven bars and 16 food and beverage outlets. There's also a shuttle service to
link the three hotels' amenities and services for guests.
About $5-million went into renovating the original TradeWinds Resort, now called the TradeWinds Island Grand. The
Island Grand boasts a colonnade-style lobby lined with huge, artificial palm trees.
Fortune Hotels Inc., the company which last year acquired the TradeWinds from an employee ownership group, is spending
another $1-million on renovations to its TradeWinds Sandpiper Beach Resort. They are expected to be completed by
summer.
"Our goal is to be the superior beachfront destination in a resort setting," said Timothy Boggott, Fortune
president and CEO. Last fall, Fortune took control of the nearby Sirata Beach Resort as a $15-million renovation
and expansion was nearing completion and cost overruns put pressure on the owners. Renamed the TradeWinds Sirata
Beach Resort, the property still is owned by the Nicklaus family but leased by Fortune, which gets a management
fee for operating it. Boggott declined to discuss the terms. He also declined to identify any Fortune investors.
A standard room at the TradeWinds Island Grand, which has a AAA four-diamond rating, is about $200 a night. The
Sirata is priced at about $160, while the Sandpiper is about $130.
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