Luxury hotel, 200 apartments and retail coming to site of former Ambassador Hote

[KenFSU]

The Ambassador La Quinta will have a rooftop bar.

Incentive package ready for City Council approval:

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2018/11/27/ambassador-hotel-incentives-ready-for-city-council.html

[Steve]

I'm glad this is happening, just surprised at the Flag on the hotel.

Doesn't have to be a Waldorf-Astoria or a Four Seasons, but wow.

[thelakelander]

Pretty cool. Glad to see this moving forward so quick, given the last plus decade of projects to be proposed and die for this site.

[Dolph1975]

I'm glad this is happening, just surprised at the Flag on the hotel.

Doesn't have to be a Waldorf-Astoria or a Four Seasons, but wow.

I agree.  I too, am glad this is happening.  Anything that will bring life to downtown is A+ in my book; I just don't feel that LaQuinta (successful hotel brand as they are) is synonymous with "luxury".  When this was first announced and described as a luxury or even boutique hotel, I was thinking something along the Kimpton line, knowing that establishments like Waldorf, Four Seasons, Ritz would not be a good fit for the location.

[downtownbrown]

Kimpton would be ideal

[KenFSU]

It'll be really interesting to see what the residential portion looks like.

I don't know how you do 200 units, with parking, on that parcel without going 20+ stories.

[Jagsdrew]

It'll be really interesting to see what the residential portion looks like.

I don't know how you do 200 units, with parking, on that parcel without going 20+ stories.

You should know this by now that they'll bulldoze historic building for parking

[Steve]

I really hope this happens.

With that said, I'm admittedly skeptical about the developers here. Here's the website: http://www.augdev.net/

The two principals have a lot of experience it seems with new build stuff, and revamping strip malls. This is not exactly in that same ballpark.

If you scroll through the site there just are a lot of oddities. If you look at some of the projects they contain the line, "Not completed while I was with the company. All development planning and approvals done under my supervision." It's as if they copy and pasted from someone's resume for the website.

I do realize even talented developers have to have their first time on a type of project and maybe this is it for these guys. They want to dump their money into downtown which is good.

Just feels.....odd.

[tufsu1]

I'm glad this is happening, just surprised at the Flag on the hotel.

Doesn't have to be a Waldorf-Astoria or a Four Seasons, but wow.

note that La Quinta is now part of the Wyndham family - and LQ has been going a bit more upmarket in their newest hotels

[Steve]

I'm glad this is happening, just surprised at the Flag on the hotel.

Doesn't have to be a Waldorf-Astoria or a Four Seasons, but wow.

note that La Quinta is now part of the Wyndham family - and LQ has been going a bit more upmarket in their newest hotels

Yea, that's fair. And to that point IHG has done a decent job of revamping the Holiday Inn brand over the last decade.

I'm not sure I "get" Wyndham's overall strategy, but that doesn't mean it isn't valid or good.

And bottom line: if this project gets done the hotel brand is at the bottom of my concerns.

[KenFSU]

They also mention Cambria, which is near the top of Choice hotels's pyramid. Better...but not amazing.

Jacksonville's first Cambria just announced.

Gate and Baymeadows.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2018/11/28/upscale-hotel-planned-near-st-johns-town-center.html

[tufsu1]

I'm not sure I "get" Wyndham's overall strategy, but that doesn't mean it isn't valid or good.

oh I totally don't get it...especially their rewards program - every room in every hotel is the same amount of points - so a Super 8 off the interstate is the same as the Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront or the New Yorker Hotel across from MSG in Manhattan - I have definitely taken advantage!

[Steve]

More Info:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/plan-to-renovate-downtown-ambassador-hotel-advances

[Dolph1975]

More Info:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/plan-to-renovate-downtown-ambassador-hotel-advances

Alright, so the article states that Cambria is also being considered along with LaQuinta.  That wouldn't be bad, I've stayed at a Cambria and they're nice properties. 

[Westside Guy]

More Info:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/plan-to-renovate-downtown-ambassador-hotel-advances

Key takeaway for me is that the REV grant is tied to the apartment building and not the hotel. Its been my concern that the hotel would get done but the apartments would be put on hold indefinitely like so many other projects in the past. I feel like this incentives package makes the construction of the apartment building more likely.