'Little' Tampa-St. Pete Property Grows Big

There are very few spots — aside from the deck of a yacht or the middle of a bridge — from which both the skylines of Tampa and St. Petersburg are visible. One of those rare yet uncrowded vantage points, on the south shore of the bay, is emerging as a 'getaway'-style conference center convenient to both cities.

Little Harbor, a resort with 94 guest rooms, a private beach, and a 7,400-square-foot conference center, is in the midst of a multi-million-dollar expansion, part of which is another conference center that will provide an additional 10,000 square feet by the end of 2007.

That expansion will give the resort about 325 rentable rooms by 2008, markedly changing the size of groups it can accommodate, said Oliver Kugler, Little Harbor's director of sales and marketing.

"We have had a following for getaway-style board meetings and workshops typically of up to 125 attendees," said Kugler. "But with the new room inventory and conference space, we are going to easily handle groups of up to 450."

Kugler said the expansion won't change the property's character, which he called "conveniently remote." On one side of Little Harbor is a mangrove wetland; on the other side, the Little Manatee river.

"This is like a beachfront hotel in Miami or Clearwater, where attendees can wander to another hotel or a beach bar, because there is nothing else down the beach from us. You get the feeling of being on a Caribbean island, even though you can hop in the car and be in downtown Tampa in half an hour."

Kugler said Little Harbor plans to target events like new-product rollouts and annual dealer meetings in the boating industry, taking advantage of its 200-slip marina.

Group fishing expeditions are popular at Little Harbor, Kugler said, as are kayaking treks in the mangrove wetland.