Hotel and Movie Theater Coming to Crowded Ellenton Road

BRADENTON – Despite concerns over traffic, the already overburdened road that serves as the main thoroughfare into the Ellenton Outlet Center is poised to get a 330-room hotel, a 50,000-square-foot movie theater, and up to 120,000-square-feet of additional retail space after Manatee County Commissioners voted 6-1 on Thursday to approve development plans for the project.

The development will be located on the northwest corner of 60th Ave East and Factory Shops Blvd, on green space that abuts the main parking lot for the outlet mall. Planner Darenda Marvin of Grimes, Goebel, Grimes, Hawkins, Gladfelter & Galvano–representing the developer, Jitan Patel–argued that the area's walkability would discourage hotel guests from using their cars. Nearby residents, however, countered that the increased traffic of the movie theater was of greater concern.

Commissioner Priscilla Trace, whose district the project is located in, was the only commissioner to express serious concern over the development and cast the lone dissenting vote. Trace noted that during the holiday season, U.S. 301 congestion already backs up into 60th Ave.

Commissioner Carol Whitmore said that traffic is the county's problem to solve and that the board needed to respond to demand for a north county movie theater by supporting the infrastructure. Commissioner Vanessa Baugh agreed, lamenting, "There’s not much we can do about traffic."

The application required special approvals for projects located in the MU (Mixed Use) Future Land Use Category (FLUC) and for the perennial stream adjacent to its northern boundary. Patel, who also developed the Holiday Inn at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and attempted in 2016 to build one at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, said the development will not be ready to break ground until late 2019 or early 2020 and would be completed over a three to five year timeline.