The opening of the Brownwood Hotel & Spa this month may have spurred other hotel development in Wildwood.
At a meeting Tuesday of the Wildwood Planning and Zoning Committee, Special Magistrate Grant Watson recommended approval of a plan amendment and rezoning request for the Wildwood Hotel Lifestyle project on State Road 44 about a mile east of Buena Vista Boulevard. The city commission likely will consider both items later this month.
Action was postponed until next month on a proposed addition to Mainstay Suites on the east side of U.S. 301 just north of the Florida Turnpike.
Wildwood Hotel Lifestyle probably will be developed in the next year, said Chuck Hiott, a civil engineer with BESH Engineering of Tavares.
He said traffic studies have been based on 200 rooms, although that number could be flexible. Hiott also said the project is not affiliated yet with a hotel chain.
Before the hotel can be built, utility lines must be extended to the site. Lines will be extended under a pioneering agreement with the city. Under the agreement, the developer will pay for the extensions with some reimbursement from future developers.
The area along SR 44 near the intersection with County Road 44A currently has homes and a few scattered businesses, but has been designated for commercial development.
The five-acre hotel property, which is being annexed into Wildwood, is near Baker House and the Village of Lake Deaton to the north and Lake Okahumpka County Park to the south. A 2,705-square-foot abandoned home is located on the rear of the property.
The proposed Mainstay Suites project would add 37 rooms in a 5,328-square-foot addition to the current 14,779-square-foot hotel. Consideration of the project was postponed due to unresolved concerns of the city engineer, development services department and Sumter County Fire.