Yahoo Finance With a new Manatee County hotel planned, development keeps coming to Heritage Harbour
A 124-room hotel planned for Heritage Harbour would be built on a 1.9-acre site on the grounds of the Stoneybrook Golf Course.
The hotel is planned for the southeast corner of the intersection of River Heritage Boulevard and Stone Harbour Loop.
The parcel owner is Bradenton Suites Developers LLC of Indianapolis, Indiana, which bought the property from Heritage Harbour Holdings LLC for $1.8 million, according to an October 2023 record with the Manatee County Clerk’s Office.
Further information about the hotel, such as the brand that will operate the facility, was not immediately available Wednesday.
The Arthur Hills-designed golf course opened in 2002 as a championship par-72 course played over a 7,150-yard layout, and was designed to appeal to golfers of all skill levels, according to Bradenton Herald archives.
The famed designer led a parade of 52 golf carts onto the Stoneybrook Golf Course at its opening.
“I’m biased, but I think it turned out well,” Hills said. He estimated that he had designed 200 courses in 25 states, including about 40 in Florida.
The golf course was built around wooded wetland preserves.
“We try to build a course that is natural, that relates to the land and doesn’t require a tremendous amount of earth-moving,” said Hills, who died May 18, 2021, at age 91.
Changes at Heritage Harbour
Heritage Harbour was built on the former 2,496-acre Harllee Ranch, north of State Road 64 and east of Interstate 75. Residents began moving into the first of 5,000 homes planned there in 2002.
From the beginning, Heritage Harbour was also approved for 1,000,000 square feet of retail and office space.
As recently as 2014, only about 28,000 square feet of the approved retail or office space had been built, making Heritage Harbour something of a late bloomer from a commercial standpoint.
In 2018, the Starling Group broke ground for a 55,145-square-foot shopping center at 8265 Heritage Green Way, now home to 3 Car Garage Brewing, Crunch Fitness and other businesses.
The pace picked up in 2019 when one of the area’s most eagerly awaited shopping destinations, a 155,000-square-foot Costco warehouse opened at 805 Lighthouse Drive in the Marketplace at Heritage Harbour shopping center.
Since then, there has been a flurry of activity in the Marketplace shopping center, including a Miller’s Ale House opening at 7175 State Road 64 E. in November 2023.
Lots of retail planned
Paperwork has been filed with Manatee County Building and Development Services for other commercial businesses in the Marketplace shopping center:
▪ Target at 725 Lighthouse Drive, next to Costco. The nearly 150,000-square-foot store would be the third for the chain in Manatee County.
▪ LongHorn Steakhouse. It would be the chain’s second in the Bradenton area. The 5,479-square-foot casual steakhouse would sit along State Road 64.
▪ Whole Foods Market. “We can confirm this store is in development. We do not have any additional information to share at this time,” a Whole Foods communications specialist said in an email. The planned grocery store would be the first of its brand in Manatee County.
▪ Panda Express at 7105 State Road 64 E. would be the chain’s third in Manatee County. Panda Express opened its first Manatee County restaurant in February 2023 at 14525 State Road 70 E. in Lakewood Ranch’s Braden River shopping center. In 2023, the company also filed paperwork to open a second restaurant at 13028 State Road 64 E. in the White Eagle shopping center at Lakewood Ranch.
▪ Hobby Lobby at 805 Lighthouse Drive. Hobby Lobby opened its first Bradenton store in 2013 at 4490 Cortez Road W. in the Pinebrook Shopping Center.
In addition to the filings with Manatee County Building and Development Services, the shopping center’s online leasing plan indicates leases are pending for a 62,996-square-foot sporting goods store, a 3,900-square-foot breakfast/brunch cafe and a 7,182-square-foot restaurant/wine bar.
