TARPON SPRINGS — A downtown lot the city has spent more than a decade trying to redevelop moved a step closer to becoming a boutique hotel when the Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval of the Tarpon Registry’s site plan.
The City Commission is scheduled to consider the site plan at its Oct. 13 meeting.
The project calls for a two-story, 11,731-square-foot mixed-use building on the vacant 8,112-square-foot property at 144 E. Tarpon Ave., Planning and Zoning Director Allie Keen told the board. It would include a 15-room hotel above ground-floor retail, a restaurant, event space and an open courtyard.
“The proposed uses will increase downtown activity and benefit the surrounding businesses,” Keen said, adding that the project “not only provides retail and event space but also offers much-needed and desired lodging within the heart of downtown.”
The site’s history dates to 1906, when Granville E. Noblit, one of the city’s original settlers, built the first of three buildings that would eventually occupy the lot. Constructed in phases between 1906 and the 1960s, the buildings housed a warehouse store and a bakery, with apartments upstairs.
By the 1980s and 1990s, the lone remaining building had fallen into disrepair. The city acquired the property and in 2009 demolished the building, which by then had trees growing through its roof.
In 2012, the city sold the land to its Community Redevelopment Agency in hopes of attracting a developer. The search dragged on for more than a decade. In October 2025, the CRA board selected Infill Studio’s proposal for a boutique hotel with retail and event space on the ground floor. The City Commission approved a development agreement for the project that December, and in July the Heritage Preservation Board granted it a certificate of appropriateness.
Keen said the project is consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan, its Special Area Plan and the terms of the development agreement. The site lies in the Downtown Character District, which she said is “intended to promote retail development and encourage mixed-use residential development to support the existing businesses along Tarpon Avenue.”
The district allows a mixed-use building with commercial space on the ground floor and lodging above as a use by right, Keen said, and the project meets its standards for floor area ratio, impervious surface ratio and lodging density. The building’s scale, massing and height also meet district standards and were approved by the Heritage Preservation Board, she said. She noted that Goal 7 of the Special Area Plan supports the development of temporary lodging to serve the city’s growing tourism industry.
The Special Area Plan has no parking requirement for properties on Tarpon Avenue or Court Street, Keen said. Still, the site plan sets aside four spaces in front of the hotel on Court Street, which development partner Joe Harrington told the board will be reserved for guests loading and unloading luggage as they arrive and depart.
At Harrington’s request, the board also recommended extending the deadline to apply for a building permit after site plan approval from six months to 12.
Harrington said the project’s public art requirement will be met inside the hotel, and historic foundation stone will be incorporated into the lobby.
With no room on the property to store materials, construction will require close coordination, according to a construction management plan submitted by The Fox Building Group as part of the site plan.
The Tarpon Avenue sidewalk will remain open, with no scaffolding, staging or overhead work in the Tarpon Avenue right of way, the plan states. Work on the building’s Tarpon Avenue facade will be done from inside the site. The East Court Street sidewalk is expected to close within the work zone, with a signed, accessible detour.
“Any closure, detour or walkway modification will be coordinated with the city in advance, and protected with appropriate barriers, signage and separation,” the plan states. “Emergency and life safety access to adjacent properties and public ways will be maintained at all times.”
Materials will be delivered as needed on a schedule managed by the construction superintendent, and all construction traffic will be routed to the East Court Street side of the property. A crane positioned within the building’s footprint will allow the full structure to be erected without using the Tarpon Avenue right of way, according to the plan.