Looking to Plan a Meeting in St. Pete/Clearwater?
Learn everything you need to know about this Florida paradise at
Destination Southeast, Northstar's premier event for meetings and incentive pros looking to book biz in the area.
New & Coming Soon to St. Pete/Clearwater
• Steve Hayes, a seasoned tourism professional with
more than 30 years' experience in destination marketing in Florida, has been
appointed president & CEO at Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.
The 132-room Tru by Hilton St. Petersburg Downtown Central Ave is set to debut in July 2020. Tru’s seven-story St. Pete property offers a vibrant locale that’s just a short stroll from Tropicana Field, home to Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. Adding to the allure: an outdoor terrace for private events, a meeting room, a fitness room and complimentary WiFi and breakfast.
• A revival of St. Pete Beach’s historic
Don CeSar Hotel is more than two-thirds complete. The National Historic Landmark
property recently unveiled expansive renovations to its lobby bar, meeting facilities, retail space and Mariana signature restaurant. This summer, the iconic hotel will embark on its third and final phase to refresh its 277 guest rooms and revamp
its casual dining Sea Porch Cafe and poolside Beachcomber Bar & Grill.
• The 123-room Karol Hotel debuted in February with a rooftop bar overlooking Tampa Bay, a signature lobby bar and restaurant, an outside pool and fitness center, and a combined 7,340 square feet of event space including a ballroom and executive conference rooms. The Marriott Tribute
Portfolio-flagged property is located 12 minutes from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.
• Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright was never commissioned to design
a seaside pier, but if he had, it might look similar to one nearing
completion on an idyllic, sugar-sand beachhead near downtown St. Pete.
Scheduled to debut in spring 2020, the
St. Pete Pier
will offer an event lawn with amazing views of downtown, a rooftop bar, observation decks, five restaurants, watersports rentals, retail shops and an environmental discovery center, as well as a sculpture crafted by Tampa-born artist Janet
Echelman. The aerial net showstopper,
titled “Bending Arc,” is 428 feet wide, stands 76 feet tall and
features 84 miles of custom-colored twine and more than a million knots.
• St. Pete’s development review commission has green-lighted plans for a
new $300 million mixed-use tower. Slated for a downtown 2.3-acre site
with sweeping views of Tampa Bay, the project will include a 225-room,
Marriott-branded
hotel with a rooftop pool, casual dining and more than 15,000 square
feet of meeting and event space. The 45-story skyscraper will also
include 300 luxury condominiums plus 25,000 square feet of retail
shopping and restaurants. Construction is scheduled
to begin in spring 2020.
• A 161-room, Marriott-flagged Moxy Hotel, is coming to St. Pete’s burgeoning Edge District. Amenities will include a rooftop pool and bar, plus an outdoor wellness and
meditation space. The property is scheduled to open in 2022.
• The
rooftop Dewey Beach Bar & Grill offers three gathering areas, a horseshoe-shaped bar that seats 21 and "elevated beach cuisine." The venue is available for private groups of 200 guests.
• A 200-room Marriott Autograph Collection
hotel is also being planned in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg.
The 50-story
mixed-used tower also calls for 325 condominiums, dining and retail
space. At press time, details on other offerings — including meeting and
event space — as well as a projected opening date have not yet been
announced. Stay tuned.
• TradeWinds
Island Resorts is currently upgrading its two properties, the 211-room RumFish Beach Resort and 585-room sister property
TradeWinds Island Grand,
at a cost of $13 million. Both
TradeWinds venues are being refreshed with new bedding, draperies,
upholstery, sofa beds, carpeting and reappointed bathrooms. Half of the
rooms at the Island Grand have already been refreshed; the rest will be
completed by late 2020. Read more
here.
• Who doesn't love dolphins? Generations of marine enthusiasts will be going all in when the Clearwater Marine Aquarium
completes
a $70 million expansion specially designed to rescue and
rehabilitate dolphins, whales and other distressed aquatic life found on
coastal beaches and waterways. The new facilities include a 7,200-square-foot event space that will accommodate 440 guests, a theater that will accommodate 275 attendees and a 1.5-million-gallon dolphin
habitat that also will showcase the aquarium's most celebrated
residents, Winter and Hope and its newest high-profile resident. Hemingway, a 700-pound Atlantic bottlenose male dolphin. The new meeting space is slated for completion in fall 2020 along with a new dolphin habitat.
• North Clearwater Beach's Hotel Cabana
is sporting a lavish new look following a total refresh and renovation.
Accented by 29 Key West-inspired
guest rooms and suites, property perks include a heated pool,
complimentary Kahwa-branded coffee and WiFi, a landscaped courtyard, a
sun deck and easy access to nearby restaurants, bars and beaches.
• St. Pete Beach’s Postcard Inn on the Beach
has revealed a trio of new dining options. Leading off is P.S. Grind,
an open-air coffee bar; Stamps, a bistro with signature dishes,
cocktails; and the expansive new
Tiki Bar that serves beach-inspired delicacies.
• The Inn on the Beach has completed an all-encompassing redesign and renovation of its 14 guest rooms.
The property is in laid-back Pass-a-Grille near the historic 8th Avenue shopping district.
More Event Venues
• The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg
offers several event and meeting spaces, including a 250-guest ballroom
and a 500-guest conservatory that overlooks Tampa Bay.
•
The James Museum features 30,000 square feet of gallery space housing an
extensive collection of western and wildlife art from the private collection of
Tom and Mary James, who invested nearly $50 million to create the museum. The
venue offers 6,000 square feet of event space that can accommodate groups
ranging from 20 to 750 guests. In
addition, there is a 129-seat auditorium as well as a museum shop & cafe
that can host gatherings.
•
Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, slated to open this
year, will house businessman and collector Rudy Ciccarello’s extensive
collection of furniture, pottery, photography, metalwork and other decorative
arts from the American Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Group meeting and event options include a100-seat auditorium and an
event and banquet hall adorned with 16 period chandeliers that can accommodate around
200 people.
• Underscored by a nine-gallery, eye-candy collection of more than 500 pieces of American Studio Glass, the Imagine Museum has
recently opened in St. Petersburg. The three-story downtown property is
the latest of a series of regional, privately funded facilities that
are turning the St.Petersburg/Clearwater area into a must-see art
experience. The new venue accommodates private events for up to 150
people.
• The Florida Holocaust Museum in downtown St. Pete accommodates groups
and events in a 200-guest dining room and an intimate 30-guest meeting space. A
critically acclaimed exhibit detailing Anne Frank’s tragic experiences is
currently on display through January 2021.
• The St. Petersburg Museum of
History offers an array of iconic exhibits, ranging
from the world’s first commercial flight to the world’s largest collection of
baseballs autographed by the game’s foremost names. The museum is nearing the completion of a
three-phase, $7 million renovation and expansion project that will add 8,000
square feet of new space, including a new visitor’s center, a new rooftop
terrace and a new exhibit gallery, that will showcase the history of the city and
Florida.
• St. Pete's NOVA 535 is
a meticulously renovated historic 1920 building with 7,000 square feet
of event space, convenient interstate access, multiple full-service
bars, VIP areas plus a private 4,000-square-foot brick and bamboo
courtyard.
• Stay, meet and play at 362-room Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club.
Located in the vibrant downtown district, guest perks include three
restaurants, a spa, a health club, Ron Garl-designed golf and 60,500
square feet of total event space.