Kings Avenue Station Construction Thread

[thelakelander]

Kings Avenue Station will include an eight story building housing a Hilton Garden Hotel and a Homewood Suites Hotel by Hilton and several restaurants at street level.  A midrise residential building will also be included at the site, which will replace the surface parking lot in front of the Kings Avenue Garage. This will be JTA's and the skyway's first true transit oriented development.  Construction is expected to begin this summer.

[thelakelander]

In the Pipeline

Jacksonville Planning and Development Department review at Kings Avenue Station, 1201 Kings Ave. near Gary and Manning streets, 1.72 acres, 165,000 square feet; agent is Doug Skiles, Skiles Engineering P.A.; owner is Michael Balanky; architect is Ervin Lovett & Miller. (No. 7836.1)

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/060407/bus_174263887.shtml

[thelakelander]

Construction starts this summer and completion is anticipated Fall 2008.


Hilton bringing dual hotel concept Downtown

Construction to start this summer
Jacksonville Business Journal - June 1, 2007by Rachel WitkowskiStaff Writer

DOWNTOWN -- The area's first dual-branded hotel is scheduled to break ground on the Southbank this summer, bringing two Hilton Hotels Corp. brands to Downtown's skyline.

A $30 million, eight-story, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites at Kings Avenue Station will begin construction in about a month. The 221-room building is split to serve extended-stay visitors on one end and short-term business and leisure travelers on the other.

Developers said it is among a handful of dual-branded hotels nationally that target multiple markets and are more cost-effective.

The Hilton hotels building is part of a 250,000-square-foot mixed-use project owned by Chase Properties Inc. The hotel building, owned by Jacksonville-based San Marco Hotel Partners LLC, will be in front of the Kings Avenue parking garage.

The project will help fill a gap in the Downtown hospitality industry for individual corporate transient guests, as well as leisure and extended-stay travelers, said Hank Fonde, a partner in San Marco Hotel Partners and president of the company managing the hotel and suites, Jacksonville-based Baymeadows Management Corp. "Downtown is underserved with brand hotels."

The Hilton Garden Inn is a 123-room, short-stay, mid-market-rate hotel. The brand primarily targets business travelers with its 24-hour computer business center, high-speed Internet and Wi-Fi, said Agnes Sibal, spokeswoman for Hilton Garden. The hotel also offers complimentary remote printing, so if guests need to print documents from the business center, they can get a code online that will access the printing job at the center.

Guests at Hilton Garden average a two and a half-night stay, Sibal said. There are 301 Hilton Gardens in the United States. The one planned in Jacksonville is among 71 expected to begin building this year and it is among the first Hiltons to be dual-branded.

Though Hilton Garden and Homewood Suites are separated in the building with two different lobbies and front desks, they will share certain features on the first floor.

Hilton Garden will have a restaurant and bar, while the 98-room Homewood will have free continental breakfast with kitchenettes in each suite. They will share the fitness center, two meeting rooms and three boardrooms.

Full article: http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2007/06/04/story10.html