Downtown Clearwater project gets $160 million in financing

A major downtown Clearwater residential and mixed-use development is getting a financial boost as its developers secured a financing package worth more than $150 million.

The Gotham Organization and The DeNunzio Group, the developers, announced late Thursday afternoon that they had secured $160 million in construction financing for The Bluffs, a project to be built on the site of the city’s former city hall building.

According to the firms, $115 million of the money will come in the form of a senior loan from Wells Fargo. The additional $45 million will be mezzanine debt and preferred equity from Schroders Capital and Lionheart Strategic Management.

The Bluffs is part of a two-project development that is expected, when complete, to transform the city’s downtown after decades of promises.

The developers say plans for The Bluffs call for a 630,000-square-foot, mixed-use development featuring a 400-unit luxury rental building, more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and 440 parking spaces.

The second project is about a block away at Osceola and Cleveland Streets on the site of what was Harborview Center. Longtime residents of the city, however, probably best remember the property as the home of the Maas Brothers department store, which for 30 years, until it closed in 1991, was the center of downtown life in Clearwater during its heyday.

That site, which is being developed by the pair as well, will be a 158-room Hilton hotel with about 20,000 square feet of retail space.

The hotel is expected to open next year, according to the statement. A spokesperson did not respond to questions about when construction would begin on The Bluffs.

Both projects sit at or near Coachman Park, which in recent years underwent an $84 million redevelopment that included the construction of a new 4,000-seat covered amphitheater, picnic areas, play areas for children and walkway connecting downtown to the Intercoastal Waterway.