Naples design board OKs plan for 118-room hotel at Third Street Plaza

A plan to convert Naples’ long vacant Third Street Plaza into a 118-room hotel passed its first major hurdle Wednesday with unanimous approval from the city’s design review board.

Board members praised the concept for a two-story hotel along Gordon Drive and Broad Avenue South, connected to another two floors of hotel rooms over retail space on Third Street South.

The project would tear down the more than 25-year-old plaza on Third Street, often described as an eyesore with its vacant shops and cracking sidewalks.

“I think it’s going to be a great addition,” board member Mitchell Norgart said. “The plaza on Third Street has been an eyesore for way too long. I find this to be the highest and best use for the property. But it’s also absolutely stunning.”

The five-member board praised the project renderings from New York-based architect Hart Howerton Partners Ltd. The hotel would include a fitness room, solarium, spa, cafe and palm trees along the surrounding streets.

“These are really and truly the most beautiful renderings I think I’ve ever seen,” board member Kristen Petry said. “I think this is a really appropriate project for that parcel.”

Board members requested the architects submit additional renderings for the project’s landscaping on Gordon Drive after a neighbor spoke during public comments and said the project’s intensity would have a negative impact on the nearby residential area.

The project would include a rooftop pool abutting Gordon Drive, adding to the building’s height, board member Stephen Hruby said.

“The mass on Gordon bothers me more than anything else,” Hruby said.

During a two-hour discussion, architect Tim McCarthy presented more details than what had been disclosed previously by the building plans. 

A partially underground parking garage will have a valet-only entrance on Broad Avenue South and exit on Gordon Drive, McCarthy said. The project will have a covered porch open to the public on Third Street South, he said, and a courtyard spa open to customers.

To avoid drawing too much traffic, the hotel won’t host events or banquets, McCarthy said.

The project will require final approval by the Naples City Council.

The property owners, Anne D. Camalier and Charles A. Camalier III, took over the plaza in 2010 after Wells Fargo foreclosed on a previous mortgage.

Most of the tenants had vacated the plaza during the mid-2000s.