The owner of the now-demolished Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel and Suites plans to build two small hotels on the site at 300 W. Retta Esplanade in the city’s Historic District.
Attorney Derek Rooney, of GrayRobinson law firm, who represents hotel owner Amer Asmar, shared the information at the city’s Community Conversation Strategic Planning and Budget meeting Feb. 24.
Residents were encouraged to share their vision of Punta Gorda during the meeting chaired by Interim City Manager Melissa Reichert. City Council is seeking input as it amends Punta Gorda’s master plan.
Rooney responded after a resident asked the city remove blacktop from the former site of the Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel and Suites and the City Marketplace site along northbound U.S. 41 and West Marion Avenue to help absorb water and prevent flooding in future rain events.
Rooney said the hotel owner plans to rebuild but an initial plan to build a larger hotel abutting U.S. 41 did not meet the city’s new Land Development Regulations. The design plan was rejected by the city last year.
Rooney is working with a Tampa-area design team to determine what can be built on the site.
Punta Gorda resident and attorney Michael Polk expressed pessimism over Asmar’s plan. He cited the nearby 785-room Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor’s struggles with occupancy and well-documented financial losses since opening in late 2023.
In addition to higher than anticipated construction costs, Sunseeker had an occupancy rate of 54% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and has had an occupancy rate of 60% in the first quarter of this year.
Greg Anderson, CEO of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., revealed during a Feb. 4 conference call that the resort will be sold to a hotel or resort brand by early summer.
Asmar’s hotel and the attached Hurricane Charley’s Sushi, Raw Bar & Grill were heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. While the hotel was never able to reopen and was deemed damaged beyond repair, the restaurant did reopen but then shuttered after Hurricane Idalia on Aug. 30, 2023, caused the roof to fail and the restaurant to flood.
Hurricane Charley’s was a popular dining establishment that previously housed other restaurant brands.
The restaurant’s owner, Dean Stainton, who owns Dean’s South of the Border restaurant, leased the restaurant space from Asmar.
Asmar, who resides in Michigan, was cited with numerous code violations after the hotel property sat in ruins for months following Hurricane Ian.
A private home sat on the site until the 1940s, when it became a small inn. A Holiday Inn was built and opened in 1968 with 102 rooms, a cocktail lounge, dining area, banquet rooms and a coffee shop. Later, it was rebranded as a Best Western.
Asmar purchased the five-story hotel with its attached two-story section in June 2004.
