Playa Largo, the Marriott Autograph property that will soon become the first full-service resort to open in Key Largo since 1993, has begun accepting room reservations, and plans a host of restaurant offerings, The Real Deal has learned. The resort’s booking engine went live on the Marriott.com website in the middle of this month. Playa Largo is accepting reservations for March 16, 2016 and onward, although the resort is still tentatively planning for an opening date in December 2015. A firmer date is expected to be set later this week after a meeting among officials from the developer Prime Hospitality, hotel General Manager Shakir Hussain told TRD.
Playa Largo will open with 155 rooms, though approximately another dozen might subsequently be added, Hussain said. Rates for a standard room are posted online starting at $299 and going as high as $650. Hussain said that the resort is positioning itself to compete with Cheeca Lodge, which is presently the highest-end full-service resort property in the Upper Keys.Playa Largo, located at 97450 Overseas Highway, on Key Largo‘s bayside, will be spread among four main buildings, each three stories high. It will also contain a separate 5,000 square-foot ballroom, 10 detached bungalow suites and the Beach House, which will be a three-bedroom suite complete with its own beachfront swimming pool.Construction at Playa Largo began in early 2014. The 14.5-acre Playa Largo property sits along 745 feet of beach set on the edge of Florida Bay.
Other amenities will include the swimming pool, a beachfront tiki bar, three tennis courts, a spa and salon and a children’s activity center. The resort’s wedding lawn and gazebo will support sunset weddings of up to 650 people. Hussain, though, might be most excited about the collection of four restaurants that Playa Largo will sport. Highlighting the list is Flagler’s, a dinner-only independent steakhouse that will serve wet-aged meats. Sol by the Sea will be located in its own beachfront building and will focus on local seafood and organic produce. Las Olas Ceviche Bar will serve a Peruvian-focused selection of the traditional South American marinated seafood dish. The tiki bar will be home to the fourth restaurant, called Sandbar, which will have a selection of craft beers.
Playa Largo will occupy the property that once once housed the American Outdoors Campground. The campground was closed in 2005 to make a way for a doomed hotel-condominium project.
