Notorious Clearwater motel site to become affordable housing development

The city of Clearwater is set to break ground on an 81-unit affordable housing development Thursday on the site of a former motel once dubbed “a thorn in the sides of residents and police.”

The new $32 million community will be named Clearwater Gardens and is at 1260 Cleveland St., just east of the city’s downtown.

That's the site of the former Economy Inn which the city — in a news release announcing the ceremonial groundbreaking set for June 20 — called “a former dilapidated inn.”