City commissioners unanimously approved a boutique hotel and retail development Oct. 7 to fill a long-vacant downtown lot that has sat empty for 17 years.
The Tarpon Registry project, proposed by Infill Studio managing partners Casey Smith and Joe Harrington, will bring a 10,000-square-foot, two- or three-story building with 12 to 24 hotel rooms and 4,600 square feet of retail space to 144 E. Tarpon Ave.
The Forbes lot has been vacant since 2008, when the city demolished an 1887 historic structure that had deteriorated beyond repair.
Commissioners reviewed three proposals during a three-hour Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. Only the Tarpon Registry featured traditional brick-and-mortar construction that commissioners said complemented the historic downtown streetscape.
A city evaluation panel ranked the project first among the three bids. City officials have long sought a boutique hotel downtown.