A hotel along one of Pasco County’s busiest commercial corridors is poised for a new life as apartments.
The Pasco County Commission is scheduled to consider a proposal to convert the 156-room hotel at 11736 U.S. Highway 19 in Port Richey, currently operating as La Vista Inn, into a 122-unit apartment community. Rather than demolishing the property, the developer plans to repurpose the existing buildings for long-term residential use.
HCM Hospitality LLC is seeking to rezone the 4.54-acre site, east of U.S. 19 and just south of State Road 52, to a Master Planned Unit Development that would establish the property’s redevelopment plan, including apartments, parking, open space and preserved wetlands.
The conversion would reduce the property’s unit count from 156 hotel rooms to 122 apartments. Plans call for three residential buildings surrounding a central courtyard and swimming pool while preserving wetlands along the eastern edge of the site.
Before residents can move in, the buildings must be brought into compliance with Florida Building Code requirements governing the change from hotel occupancy to residential use.
County planners determined the redevelopment is expected to generate fewer vehicle trips than the property’s existing development rights, eliminating the need for additional traffic timing or phasing analysis.
The Pasco County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval with conditions, and the rezoning request is now headed to the County Commission as part of its consent agenda.