TAMPA, Fla. — The Epicurean Hotel in Tampa’s historic Hyde Park neighborhood has spent $21 million on an expansion which has added dozens of guest rooms, according to Joe Collier, President and Founder of Mainsail Lodging & Development.

What You Need To Know

  • Epicurean Hotel spent $21M on expansion  

  • The expansion adds 51 new guest rooms

  • According to HVS, 738 rooms were added to the total supply in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties last year 

  • 13 new hotels will add 1,448 rooms in the coming years

“It was a great opportunity for us to add some additional rooms and some additional room styles,” he said. “We certainly believe in the market.”

Collier said they had to move a historic house to make way for the expansion which is located across the street from the main hotel.

“It took us a while to assemble the property across the street,” he said. “We had to move an old historic house. We had to put it up on a trailer.”

A new four-story building with a rooftop terrace opened on the property in January and two fully restored apartment buildings will open in March. The expansion adds 51 new guest rooms, 11 of which are suites and two new meeting space rooms. Collier said the Epicurean Hotel routinely sells out, so there is a need for extra rooms.

“If you sell out 200 nights, that means you’re turning away a lot of business,” he said. “We’ve been seeing occupancy and rate numbers for 2022 and 2023 that were fantastic.”

Hannah McManus, director of Hotel Valuation Services, said the Tampa Bay area market has been hot and is now rivaling South Florida for group destinations and meetings.

“The significance in the growth of hotel inventory over the last decade is that Tampa Bay is now equipped to support the needs of larger commercial users and larger conferences and events,” she said. “As well as meet the demands of a higher-rated leisure and commercial traveler.”  

According to HVS, from 2013 to 2023, Tampa Bay area hotels added 9,586 rooms, which represents 19.9% of the total supply in Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties. Last year, the hotel industry added 738 rooms to the total supply of 48,179 rooms. In the coming years, 13 new hotels will add 1,448 rooms.

“For the most part, the demand is still largely out pacing supply and our developers are recognizing that. So, we are seeing some expansions,” she said. “We are seeing certainly a need for additional hotel supply. I think rates are speaking to that as well.”  

McManus said rising construction costs have prevented some projects from breaking ground.

“Material shortages and the high cost of capital will likely slow down the new supply pipeline somewhat,” she said. “But the popularity of Tampa as a commercial and leisure destination should support a steady inflow of new hotel rooms.”

Collier said he got into the hotel development business after working for Marriott for 15 years. He created Mainsail Lodging & Development in 1998 and the company has grown to operate 15 boutique type hotels.

Collier said he partnered with David Laxer, the owner of Bern’s Steakhouse, to open the Epicurean Hotel in 2013.

“The development side — high risk, high reward,” he said. “We went through some tough times during COVID and a few other economic cycles, but I wouldn’t trade it. I love the business.”