'Queen of West Coast' Will Be Reborn as a Hampton Inn

BRADENTON - The "Pink Palace," a long-vacant Bradenton landmark that has hosted prohibition-era drinking parties, proms and possibly Al Capone, is about to be reborn as a Hampton Inn.

An incentive-laden deal between Bradenton's Downtown Development Authority and The Widewaters Group Inc., a real estate development and management firm with offices in New York and North Carolina, should clear the way for an estimated $15 million rehab of the 115-room hotel, which now serves as a vacant reminder of better times situated smack in the middle of downtown.

Brian Long, Widewaters development director, said his firm chose the project hoping to fill a void.

"There are no hotels in downtown Bradenton, an area we think has some future upside," he said. "We also saw an opportunity to save a building that has played an important role in the history of Bradenton."

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