Hyatt Place Tower Preparing to Break Ground in Downtown

[thelakelander]

I can't imagine them being dumb enough to break ground within six months if the business plan is dependent on conceptual dreams like the Ford, Lot J, the District, Landing, etc. All of those are years away from fruition....if they even happen.

[fieldafm]

The site of the planned hotel has for the last six months been used as the staging area for the renovations to the adjacent Vystar Tower and Life of the South building, in preparation for the relocation of Vystar's headquarters. That work is expected to last through the 2nd quarter of this year, hence the need to modify Main Street's hotel construction timeline. The original purchase contract with the City called for vertical construction to start within a given period (that site has been under contract twice before with the same construction performance).  At the time of entering into that agreement, neither Main Street nor the City anticipated that Main Street would sell the former Suntrust Tower and adjacent parking garage to Vystar, nor that Eugene Profitt would sell the Life of the South building to Vystar.

The purchase contract between Vystar and Main Street anticipated that each party would make construction access accommodations for one another.

[CityLife]

The point was that the developer (and hotel operator) might be interested to see what mix of hotels could be attached to the other projects Downtown. While the District, Lot J, Ford on Bay are not apples to apples comparisons in terms of location DT, project type, and may not even have comparable operators; there very well could be some market overlap, which would impact their initial demand projections. Just saw the exact same thing happen, where a large national hotel operator backed out of a deal when they saw an area with a lot of demand was being flooded with new hotels.

Good to hear from Mike that it's construction/staging related and not second thoughts.

[thelakelander]

I can't imagine they'd get this far along and then start worrying about potential hotels at the District, Lot J or City Hall Annex sites either. All three have had hotel talk associated with theme prior to Hyatt Place materializing. Whatever market there is, the projects that get built first will likely be the few of all the proposed that get built before the next recession. Right now, out of the 7 or 8 hotels proposed since 2017/18, only one (Residence Inn) has broken ground.

[Wacca Pilatka]

^ Does the LaQuinta/Ambassador Hotel project count as having broken ground in that interior demo has happened?  I know it's waiting on permitting.

[Steve]

Here are the ones I remember:

Residence Inn - Under Construction
Indigo - Now part of VyStar's headquarters
Hyatt Place - I THINK this will happen, just later than planned
Courtyard Marriott (Trio) - I THINK this will happen, assuming Atkins and the city can figure out the money
Ambassador - This one seems sketchy to me. They've moved more than I thought they would with the interior demo, but it just seems like something is missing on this one.

I don't count Lot J or the District as they seem like pen on a cocktail napkin at this point. I know they announced AC for the district but they have to show me something more.

Was that it?

[thelakelander]

The hotel associated with the convention center RFP...now Ford site.

[thelakelander]

^ Does the LaQuinta/Ambassador Hotel project count as having broken ground in that interior demo has happened?  I know it's waiting on permitting.

I forgot about that one. I'd count it. They broke ground. That's a lot more realistic than conceptual renderings. The developer also doubled down and acquired the old JEA tower across the street.

[Wacca Pilatka]

The hotel associated with the convention center RFP...now Ford site.

Also the resort/amusement park at Berkman 2, I guess

[thelakelander]

Forgot about that one too. It popped up and was quickly submitted to the dead projects file. Big savings for the taxpayers!

[heights unknown]

Maybe they are considering building on the vacant Landing site and are waiting for a complete vacancy and clearing of the land; just kidding, who knows what's happening. But you never know in "Big Jax!"

[marcuscnelson]

Whatever happened to this project? Did the pandemic kill the business case for this?

[thelakelander]

I haven't heard anything about this one since the pandemic began. I'm not sure if they requested another extension or if the agreement expired.