The seventh Florida hotel for boutique leader Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is to incorporate a restaurant from Italian Michelin-starred chef Silvia Baracchi, due to open in early 2018

13th June 2016 – Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has announced that it will manage a new, luxury lifestyle boutique hotel in Tampa, Florida, that will incorporate a restaurant from Michelin-starred Tuscan chef Silvia Baracchi. The property, which is due to open in early 2018, further expands Kimpton's footprint on the gulf coast of the Sunshine State and will be its seventh hotel in Florida, joining the recently opened Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, along with existing hotels in South Beach, Miami, Palm Beach and Vero Beach.

The hotel will be ideally located at the intersection of O'Brien and Laurel streets in the heart of Tampa's thriving Westshore neighbourhood. The new-construction property, built as a modern Italian piazza, will form the heart of a thriving community area, essentially creating an intimate town square in an otherwise commercial area. The luxury lifestyle hotel will be designed by award-winning architect Albert Alfonso, who has earned a reputation for ingeniously highlighting the community activities that occur within his spaces.

The property will feature 150 rooms and suites spanning five stories, along with a rare Tampa rooftop bar that highlights the spectacular sunsets. There will also be as separate rooftop event space for weddings and special gatherings and the property will feature more than 4,000 square feet of indoor meeting and event space, including dedicated venues for musical performances and a lobby bar, pool and fitness centre.

The new Tampa hotel will also house the first U.S. outpost for Chef Silvia Baracchi, who gained international acclaim at Il Falconiere, a Michelin-starred restaurant and retreat in Cortona, Tuscany. The intimate fine dining restaurant will be supplied by a new off-site, state-of-the-art hydroponic farm named Red Barn Farm, which will devote nearly eight acres of climate-controlled growing capacity exclusively to the property (but guests can still catch a glimpse of the growing techniques thanks to a showpiece vertical garden). The dinner-only restaurant will feature a menu that reflects a sophisticated and stylish take on the culinary traditions of the Tuscan countryside, and Chef Baracchi also plans to bring her signature cooking classes to the local community. A second restaurant offers guests an alternative space to enjoy three casual meals a day and features a bakery that will also serve coffee, snacks and café-style fare. All dining experiences will be complemented by abundant live music and performance art, with venues ranging from performance areas on the piazza to indoor stages.

“We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring this calibre of heartfelt hospitality and dining to Tampa, especially since it allows us to continue growing along Florida's gulf coast,” said Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino. “The combination of stunning architecture, a Michelin-starred chef, a fantastic rooftop and Kimpton's authentic, unscripted guest service makes this a special project for us.” 

The new hotel will target a large and growing base of business travellers to Florida's third-largest city and the state's most important banking and high tech manufacturing hub. Lifestyle travellers are also a part of the hotel's guest mix, given Tampa's thriving tourist attractions which include Busch Gardens, the Florida Aquarium,  museums, a vibrant nightlife, and the nearby St. Pete Beach and Clearwater Beach.

The owner and developer of the new hotel, Giunta Group, is a Tampa-based developer that has built and managed a variety of real estate projects including retail, residential, and commercial projects.

“This signature boutique hotel will be unlike anything else in Tampa, from the rooftop bar and access to the fresh air piazza, to the design by renowned architect Albert Alfonso, and the one-of-a-kind dining experiences,” said The Giunta Group CEO Richard S. Giunta. “As local developers, we were especially drawn to Kimpton's leadership managing boutique hotels and restaurants around the U.S. and within Florida. We knew Kimpton would bring heart to a hometown project for us.” 

ABOUT KIMPTON HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is a leading collection of boutique hotels and restaurants and the acknowledged industry pioneer that first introduced the boutique hotel concept to the United States. In 1981, Bill Kimpton founded the company that today is renowned for making travellers feel genuinely cared for through thoughtful perks and amenities, bold, playful design and a sincerely personal style of guest service. Out to help people live full, balanced lives, Kimpton aims to inspire with touches like yoga mats in every room, complimentary coffee and tea to start the day, hosted evening Wine Hour, in-room fitness programming and complimentary bike rentals. The award-winning restaurants and bars are led by talented chefs and bartenders that offer guests a chance to dine like a local. 

Kimpton is consistently ranked as one of the top companies in the Market Metrix Hospitality Index, Upper Upscale Segment, for Customer Satisfaction. The company is highly-regarded for its innovative employee culture and benefits and has been named a FORTUNE magazine “Best Place to Work” seven times since 2009. Kimpton is continuously growing and currently operates over 60 hotels and 70 plus restaurants, bars and lounges in 30 U.S. cities. In January 2015, Kimpton was welcomed into the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) family of hotel brands, bringing together two special cultures and sets of values to create the world's largest boutique hotel business. For more information, visit www.KimptonHotels.com.

ABOUT THE GIUNTA GROUP
The Giunta Group, Ltd., led by Richard S. Giunta, is a dominant presence in Tampa real estate development, focusing on projects that revitalise and enhance the community. The company owns and manages multiple shopping centres including Florida Crossings, Village Plaza at Westchase and Ruskin Crossings as well as multiple other visionary ventures in the Tampa Bay area, including the trend-setting Victory Lofts at Channelside and the upscale Citrus Runs Apartments.

-ENDS-

Media Contacts:
McCluskey International for Kimpton
T: 020 8747 2170
Fiona Anderson fiona@mccluskey.co.uk / Frankie Gibson kimpton@mccluskey.co.uk