New hotel coming to last 45th St. lot, targeting ballpark

Developers of 160-room inn hope to profit from new baseball stadium.

WEST PALM BEACH — A new hotel is in the works, just off Interstate 95 at 45th Street, to join a cluster of hotels hoping to benefit from the presence of the just-opened Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

West Palm Beach cit y commissioners last month gave initial approval to rezone the 2.69acre site to accommodate a 160room hotel. A final vote is scheduled for March 27.

The proposed 65,700-squarefoot structure will rise at 2921 45th St., behind Rachel’s World Class Men’s Club and Steakhouse and abutting the southbound I-95 exit ramp.

The property owner is Passive Income Partners LLC, whose managers are Robert W. Rawe II of West Palm Beach and Timothy J. Page of North Palm Beach. The applicant for the zoning change for the project is Jon E. Schmidt and Associates Inc. of West Palm Beach.

The hotel, whose brand has not been announced, will be next door to the Courtyard West Palm Beach hotel and across 45th Street from five others: Holiday Inn Express, Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, SpringHill Suites and Red Roof Inn. A Cracker Barrel restaurant occupies the southwest corner of the intersection, and across the interstate, there’s a Days Inn.

T h e B a l l p a r k o f t h e P a l m Beaches, the spring training and minor league complex of the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals, opened in February about a mile west, off 45th Street.

The Astros alone have reserved more than 17,000 room nights in area hotels for players, coaches and support staff this year. Meanwhile the team bought a 10-story office building off Palm Beach L akes Boulevard in February for $6.5 million to convert it into hotel rooms.

A Schmidt representative told the City Commission that between