ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Early planning is underway for a hotel at Treasure Coast International Airport, County Commission members said March 3.
The county will open a bidding process for a hotel at the county-owned airport, which already is increasing the services it provides for private flights and has been trying to lure a commercial airline here for passenger flights.
The potential hotel would be on about 20 acres near the airport’s main entrance, county spokesperson Erick Gill said. The goal is for the bidding process, where interested parties can submit proposals to build and operate the hotel, to open within the next 60 days, Gill said.
Details about the hotel, including its size and branding, are still to be determined, Gill said. Those specifics will be part of potentially what sets bids apart from each other, and the County Commission ultimately will decide which proposal wins a contract.
At the same meeting, in a split 3-2 vote, commissioners voted to move forward with adding a second fixed-base operator at the airport. FBOs provide services such as aviation fuel. The airport already has one FBO.
Commissioners James Clasby and Cathy Townsend voted no. Both said they supported a bidding process to determine what to do with the property. A second FBO may not be the best use, they said, and opening the process to bids could bring in some creative ideas.
Commissioners provided no update on attracting passenger airline service. In December, after years of Townsend promising airline flights were months away, county staff gave a hopeful timeline of March for flights to begin, but as of March 6 there had been no announcement from the county, the airport or any airline.
Wicker Perlis is TCPalm’s Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at Wicker.Perlis@TCPalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Early plans underway for hotel at Treasure Coast International Airport
Reporting by Wicker Perlis, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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