New EVEN Hotel Chain Eyeing Downtown Jax?

[Metro Jacksonville]

New EVEN Hotel Chain Eyeing Downtown Jax?



With the Downtown Investment Authority agreeing to an incentives package for a $23 million hotel at the intersection of Magnolia and Forest Streets, Jacksonville could be in line to land Florida's first EVEN Hotel. Sounds great, but what is this hotel chain all about?  Today, Metro Jacksonville takes a look.

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-nov-new-even-hotel-chain-eyeing-downtown-jax

[vicupstate]

The JBJ article says the site is the SE corner of Forest and Magnolia.  That is the Plaza site.  I think NE is the better description.  There are about 6 parcels owned by Parkview Partners on the North side of Magnolia.

[mtraininjax]

Should make Fidelity happy to have a nice hotel so close. For years, they put people up in B&Bs in Riverside because there was nothing much else close to them.

[Bill Hoff]

There's a "Well-come" center, where guests check in after being given a glass of filtered water and a cool, scented hand towel to wash away all the stress, as opposed to a front desk. Walls throughout the hotel complex are also littered with encouraging words, such as "Don't think of them as stairs; they're little hurdles."

This is like an SNL skit. Or that hotel episode in Portlandia.

[finehoe]

This is like an SNL skit. Or that hotel episode in Portlandia.

[JaxNative68]

I thought Fidelity has been toying with the idea of building a little hotel on their campus for many years.

[Redbaron616]

Definition of "Incentive Package": Taxpayer money taken from the hard-working middle class and handed over to the rich and wealthy so they can build their financial empires on the cheap, thanks to their political chums.

[thelakelander]

From the Jax Biz Journal article:

DIA awarded the developers a tax rebate grant of up to $3.7 million over 20 years. The project is estimated to generate $4.9 million in incremental property tax revenue over the period.

I'm not sure this fits the definition you described. No actual money appears to be changing hands. Plus in terms of property tax revenue, it appears taxpayers end up $1.2 million in the positive.

[jaxjags]

Property tax rebates are not uncommen for project in many places. For instance the Boing plant in Charleston was granted very large tax rebates by State and city that essentially help pay/finance for half the plant. They also got large grants, which do come more directly from taxpayers. But both the city and the state will take the high paying jobs and subcontractors that add significantly to the tax base versus the property tax loss.

[finehoe]

But both the city and the state will take the high paying jobs and subcontractors that add significantly to the tax base versus the property tax loss.

Unfortunately, "high paying jobs" and "hotel" are rarely used in the same sentence.

[jaxjags]

Unfortunately I agree. They are not the high paying 787 Dreamliner manufacture and assembly jobs. Also a hotel (and many other service companies) do not bring many additional high paying jobs, such as Boeing locating a new IT and Engineering Center in Charleston. I believe this is an issue in general with Jacksonville,  both with incentives and expensive infrastructure improvements. We do not want to tax (state and city income taxes) and have a relatively low property tax base compared to other large metros. If somehow the city and state could have come up with $ 900 million, Boeing may had been at Cecil. I said may.