Laura Street Trio to be Marriott Flagged Boutique Hotel

[Josh]

I stayed at the Courtyard in downtown Seattle a couple of years ago located in a retrofitted building. It was a wonderful hotel and anything like that would be a welcome addition to downtown.

Good to hear. I'll be staying in that hotel Labor Day weekend.

[Rynjny]

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/Laura-Street-Trio-faces-obstacle-after-downtown/Gp454wzuYEqMB-NQC4-bCA.cspx

I'm going to surprised if they get this project going.

[edjax]

^^there is really nothing new in this story.  I like how they act like they did some digging and found out that they were seeking city incentives.  Of course this was known and indicated in the Jax biz joirnal story on it.  Other than the hot dog cart vendor comments everything in the story already reported.

[If_I_Loved_you]

I'm skeptical, but hope it does work out

+1

[Charles Hunter]

That's typical of the Action News approach ... "Breaking News ... City spends YOUR TAX DOLLARS on public services!  We seek answers for YOU!"

I hope this project makes it, and having some of that $9 million to sweeten the pot would be good.

[duvaldude08]

^^there is really nothing new in this story.  I like how they act like they did some digging and found out that they were seeking city incentives.  Of course this was known and indicated in the Jax biz joirnal story on it.  Other than the hot dog cart vendor comments everything in the story already reported.

Our local media has no life. They always try and make stories out of non-stories. I really hate watching the news.

[thelakelander]

Where has Action News been for the last decade?  Everyone has known since the Cameron Kuhn days that some sort of incentives would be needed for this particular project.

[Rynjny]

I'm so sick of our local news media too and comment sections on their websites are even worst.

[I-10east]

Here's Channel 4's report on the Trio. They talked with the Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace. *Clean up the typos Channel 4*

www.news4jax.com/news/Laura-Street-trio-project/-/475880/21533254/-/gf6oqa/-/index.html

[JayBird]

Not be a negative nancy, but with the hyatt looking for a buyer aren't they concerned about occupancy rates for hotels downtown? Maybe they know something we don't? (Convention center? )

The Hyatt is back on the market again? Geez what is it with that place, I figured after the auction (3rd time was finally the charm) this year it would be somewhat settled at least for a little while.

[thelakelander]

Hmm....A convention center hotel over a mile away from the convention center?  The results of poor downtown planning and implementation shouldn't be surprising. 

[Wacca Pilatka]

Hmm....A convention center hotel over a mile away from the convention center?  The results of poor downtown planning and implementation shouldn't be surprising.

Lake (and any other MJ regulars), I'd be curious as to how you think both downtown/LaVilla and the convention trade might be different today had the city incentivized Bucky Clarkson's proposed Marriott that would have been adjacent to the Prime Osborn rather than the Adam's Mark when given the choice in '97.

[thelakelander]

Assuming the rest of LaVilla had not already been taken out, my guess is you'd have an environment between Bay and Houston Street that's similar to what you see in Riverside on King Street around College Street, the breweries and CoRK. You would have had a ton of cheap commercial/obsolete warehouse space suitable for adaptive reuses.

It would have made the argument to keep the convention center where it's at much stronger.  I believe Clarkson's hotel was much smaller, so it probably would have fit our market a little better.

[Tacachale]

^Lavilla was already bulldozed by then. As I recall, Clarkson's proposal was still several blocks away from the convention center. It was too far away from anything else to have much impact; it certainly wouldn't have spurred any more new construction than the better placed current hotel.  Plus, the city would have been stuck dealing with Bucky Clarkson.

[vicupstate]

^Lavilla was already bulldozed by then. As I recall, Clarkson's proposal was still several blocks away from the convention center. It was too far away from anything else to have much impact; it certainly wouldn't have spurred any more new construction than the better placed current hotel.  Plus, the city would have been stuck dealing with Bucky Clarkson.

LaVilla was gone, or nearly so.  The Clarkson hotel stretched across a block or two, but it's property would have been across the street from Prime Osborn, as I recall.    It would have had 400 rooms and been 17 stories. 

The real mistake was putting the Convention Center so far from the Northbank/Landing in the first place.