Developer to rebrand $1.9M motel

SIESTA KEY — Henry Rodriguez, the developer behind the Wal-Mart Supercenter and original owner of the 41-acre Bay Street Village and Towncenter in Osprey, bought a historic motel near Siesta Key for $1.9 million.

Rodriguez plans to rebrand the Elephant Ear Suites at 1800 Stickney Point Road, which is comprised of two parcels, as the Siesta Inn & Suites. “I'm going to be investing a lot of money in this property, and remodeling to the point where it's going to be a four-star hotel,” Rodriguez tells the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer.

The properties were known as the Tides Inn Motel and Sunset Lodge for decades. “The one thing I love is the fact that it's an 'Old Florida' hotel,” Rodriguez says. “You can't really emulate that.”