Nearly 300 employees at Pier Sixty-Six Hotel & Marina in Fort Lauderdale and Beachcomber Resort and Villas in Pompano Beach are being laid off as the properties’ owners prepare to begin redevelopment projects.
At Pier Sixty-Six Hotel & Marina, 213 employees were notified Friday that their jobs will be eliminated on or near June 10, according to Shawn Warmstein, spokesman for developer Tavistock Development Co.
According to letters to the terminated employees from hotel general manager Amaury Piedra, the hotel’s managers are contacting other properties managed by Interstate Management Co. “as well as other companies in the area to let them know that we are closing and asking them to consider hiring our ex-employees when they have openings.”
Warmstein said he did not have a breakdown of the eliminated positions but that they include staff of restaurant inside the hotel.
Renovation of the Beachcomber Resort and Villas, 1200 S. Ocean Boulevard, Pompano Beach, will displace 79 workers, according to a letter sent to the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
All affected employees have been notified of their separation dates, which will take place between May 31 and June 14, Beachcomber controller Diego Soto said in the letter April 1 letter. The layoffs are expected to be permanent because the resort will be closed for more than six months and “we cannot anticipate our hiring needs once we reopen,” the letter said.
Eliminated positions will include 15 maids, 18 servers, five front desk agents, six kitchen prep workers, five bartenders, five housemen and four pool shop attendants.
Built in 1966, the nine-story building has 116 units, according to Broward County property records.
Tavistock expects approval over the coming months from Fort Lauderdale’s planning and zoning commission and city commission to begin redevelopment of the 17-story Pier Sixty-Six Hotel & Marina as part of an ambitious project that will add numerous condos, villas and single-family homes to the property.
Construction could begin before the end of 2019, Tavistock senior director Jessi Blakley said in an email statement Friday. The tower has 154 rooms that haven’t been used since it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. Another 230 rooms are located in a two-story adjacent building that will be replaced by a larger building..
The hotel, east of the Intracoastal Waterway and north of the 17th Street Causeway, is expected to reopen in two years, Warmstein said.
Three properties west of the hotel — the Pier Sixty-Six Marina and two restaurants, Grille 66 and Pelican Landing — will remain open throughout the redevelopment project, Warmstein said. About 50 Tavistock employees are being retained, including staff at Pelican Landing, the marina, the property’s security and engineering teams, and upper management including Piedra, Warmstein said. Grille 66 is under separate ownership.