The District signs deal for a riverfront hotel on the Southbank

[KenFSU]

P.S. My guess is Element.

Something similar to what they're doing in Buckhead seems to fit the District vibe.

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/7/13/15961706/buckhead-prominence-hotel-element-starwood

LEED certified, complimentary bikes, modular furniture, spa-style bathrooms, etc.

[howfam]

P.S. My guess is Element.

Something similar to what they're doing in Buckhead seems to fit the District vibe.

https://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/7/13/15961706/buckhead-prominence-hotel-element-starwood

LEED certified, complimentary bikes, modular furniture, spa-style bathrooms, etc.

Nice for Buckhead, but needs to be taller and more Florida- Like  for a waterfront site like The District.

[Steve]

For those that picked AC Hotels.....you're the winner (of what I don't know).

Business Journal is reporting that groundbreaking is early next year. The more I hear about this project, the less I seem to understand what exactly we're doing here.

[thelakelander]

I win, I win, I win!!

[Dapperdan]

For those that picked AC Hotels.....you're the winner (of what I don't know).

Business Journal is reporting that groundbreaking is early next year. The more I hear about this project, the less I seem to understand what exactly we're doing here.

Seems to be piecemealing together. I was thinking it would all get built at once but it seems like only as deals are finalized do they start. As long as they keep to the master plan and keep the projects at least steadily coming, I am fine with it. Just taking an extra cautious approach I guess.

[remc86007]

^I'm not sure there is sufficient labor force in Jax to construct more than a couple buildings at a time without the rate skyrocketing considering all the simultaneous projects going on throughout the metro area. Slow and steady is fine with me.

[thelakelander]

For those that picked AC Hotels.....you're the winner (of what I don't know).

Business Journal is reporting that groundbreaking is early next year. The more I hear about this project, the less I seem to understand what exactly we're doing here.

Seems to be piecemealing together. I was thinking it would all get built at once but it seems like only as deals are finalized do they start. As long as they keep to the master plan and keep the projects at least steadily coming, I am fine with it. Just taking an extra cautious approach I guess.

Neither the District or the Shipyards are projects that will be built in a single phase. Jax doesn't have the market to support that amount of new construction infill at once.

[howfam]

For those that picked AC Hotels.....you're the winner (of what I don't know).

Business Journal is reporting that groundbreaking is early next year. The more I hear about this project, the less I seem to understand what exactly we're doing here.

AC Hotels. Are they known for building high rise hotels or lower scale. The picture shown on channel 4 showed a 5 or 6 story building-  I think it needs to be taller as the conceptual site specs indicated.   

[thelakelander]

AC Hotels is Marriott's version of Aloft. I stayed in one in DC a few months. That one was a midrise with a few restaurants and bars at street level and the room layout was the same as Aloft's.

[JaxAvondale]

The AC hotel in New Orleans has a nice setup.

[Steve]

AC Hotels is Marriott's version of Aloft. I stayed in one in DC a few months. That one was a midrise with a few restaurants and bars at street level and the room layout was the same as Aloft's.

Correct, though it seems like AC is more willing to do their own box, where aloft wants their exact setup, interior and exterior, with few exceptions in urban markets.

Side note - this is why I don't see Marriott keeping 30 brands. Really, there is no difference between AC and aloft - they are going after the same crowd. My belief is within the next 24 months this becomes an aloft or the Southside/Airport alofts become an AC.

(I'd also like to point out that AC was my #1 guess from my post months ago ).

Back to more at hand - I looked at the rendering again. The hotel was on the west edge, meaning on the property adjacent to the School board. If you're going to phase it, that's the way to do it as long as DCPS is there.

[downtownbrown]

Now, when the Mayor and DIA announce that Marriott is going to put a Delta concept to complete Berkman 2, we'll really have something to talk about...

He promised it will be wrapped up this quarter.

[Flash60]

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2017-11-28/jea-extends-deadline-southbank-development-includes-city-hall-prolonged-talks#

By Nate Monroe
JEA extends deadline for Southbank development, includes City Hall in prolonged talks

The JEA board agreed Tuesday to give the developers behind a planned mega-development on Jacksonville's Southbank more time to close on the purchase of the utility's waterfront land, a delay that appears to have also wrapped City Hall into the prolonged talks.

JEA officials said the 90-day delay they approved will give the group behind The District — a planned mixed-use development — time to transfer its purchase agreement over to the city, which faces a July 16 deadline to pay JEA $18.5 million for its 30 acres of land.

It's not clear why the city is looking to pay JEA for the land instead of The District, a group which includes prominent Jacksonville developer Peter Rummell as one of its partners. JEA and The District say the deal is still under negotiations with the city and the Downtown Investment Authority.

It's also unclear if the city and the DIA will bear the full cost of the $18.5 million purchase price, or how else either or both might compensate JEA for its land. The District had no comment on the latest development.

City Councilman Matt Schellenberg, who serves as the council's liaison to JEA, criticized the extension and said it's a bad deal.

"Three years is long enough," he told the JEA board of directors ahead of the vote on the extension.

JEA selected the development group behind The District to negotiate on a purchase agreement for its land in 2014. In the time since, District representatives say they have spent about $2 million on preliminary work, despite not yet closing on the purchase of the JEA land they plan to build on.

The District would be a first-of-its-kind development in Jacksonville's urban core, and the so-called entitlements process — the various regulations, approvals and permits that rely on decisions at the staff and political levels in municipal and state government — appear to have taken longer than anyone anticipated.

The 90-day delay the JEA board approved Tuesday also came with a requirement that The District convert a $250,000 deposit that was previously refundable into a non-refundable payment that does not get applied to the purchase price of the utility's land. That site formerly housed a JEA generating plant.

The builders have signaled that they are determined to move forward with the project. On Monday, the group announced that AC Hotel by Marriott plans to build a six-story, 200-room hotel on the westernmost riverfront parcel of the 30–acre project.

[vicupstate]

ruh roh

[MusicMan]

Never ending......................................

There really are no excuses.  And this does not look good no matter what Peter Rummell or anyone else says.

Cluster f$$k.  Welcome to Jacksonville....................

This exactly supports my previous statement, "you have no idea if this will close or not."  3 years and we still do not know.............

Can someone say with specificity what they spent the $2 million on?  (Besides attorneys...........)

A 90 day delay......  which means they'll start working on the paperwork in 80 days, so they'll need another extension for 90 more days, ..........  This is the pace for a real estate transaction in the 1890's, not the 21st Century.

And further delays any groundbreaking by ANYONE at all over there, including the AC Hotel that "Business Journal is reporting that groundbreaking is early next year."  Maybe 2019. 

"JEA officials said the 90-day delay they approved will give the group behind The District — a planned mixed-use development — time to transfer its purchase agreement over to the city,...." 

That is the kiss of death to this deal folks. And gives Rummell an out.  He's done nothing but delay. He's supposed to be among the best in this industry, and he can't get it done.

Reading this it is clear The District reps went to JEA and asked for an extension. WHY CAN'T THEY CLOSE THE DEAL THEY AGREED TO?