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

[Tacachale]

There are interested parties. Keep the faith!

[Jax_Developer]

Alex Sifakis/JWB want to step in here?

Kidding....only partially.

You say that, but I am sure the Gateway Jax team is watching this opportunity very closely. 

One thing they don't mention in the article is which parcels are being foreclosed on.  Axis owns the whole block but it's 5 different properties under 3 LLCs.  I have no understanding of real estate laws or how any of that works just curious.

That was done to separate the incentives & historic grants by use-type & is somewhat common. The Trio was intending to do the same. The mortgages are likely blanketed, meaning they cover multiple LLC's and/or parcels depending on how the paperwork was written.

[Joey Mackey]

There are interested parties. Keep the faith!

Are these interested parties in the room with us right now? lol I kid I kid.

[jaxoNOLE]

Auction for the Ambassador & CNB parcels set for March 25. Let's go, Gateway! 

Two undeveloped lots on the block containing the long-vacant Ambassador Hotel and Central National Bank building will be put up for public bid March 25 under a court order in a foreclosure suit filed against owner Axis Hotels LLC.

A notice of sale was filed Feb. 6 in the case after the plaintiff, Indiana-based Shah Family LLC, was awarded a judgment of $4.81 million in November 2024.

Based on the legal descriptions in the notice of sale and a review of deeds for the properties in the block, the three parcels that are identified in the notice of sale comprise lots on the southwest and northwest corners of the block.

The hotel, at 420 N. Julia St., is the site of stalled plans by St. Augustine-based Axis Hotels LLC to resurrect it as a 127-room La Quinta Inn and Suites. A companion plan was to demolish the adjacent Central National Bank building and replace it with apartments and a parking garage.



https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/feb/18/court-orders-sale-of-property-owned-by-ambassador-hotel-developer/

[Jones518]

Gateway Jax!!!!



https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/mar/05/gateway-jax-buys-ambassador-hotel-block-downtown-for-17-million/

[jaxlongtimer]

Gateway Jax!!!!

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/mar/05/gateway-jax-buys-ambassador-hotel-block-downtown-for-17-million/

If Gateway gets any more property Downtown, we will have to rename the City "Gateway-ville."   

[Jones518]

Yal say the same thing about Shad khan !!! If you aren't going to get in the game, then why you complaining?? Gateway Jax is one of the most active developers we have seen in dt Jax in idk how long... Yal be hating.... Khan-ville and Gateway-ville is getting old just like them played out empty parking lots..I'm sure Gateway will sell off some of their property when the time is right and likely after they develop a few parcels.

[jaxlongtimer]

Yal say the same thing about Shad khan !!! If you aren't going to get in the game, then why you complaining?? Gateway Jax is one of the most active developers we have seen in dt Jax in idk how long... Yal be hating.... Khan-ville and Gateway-ville is getting old just like them played out empty parking lots..I'm sure Gateway will sell off some of their property when the time is right and likely after they develop a few parcels.

How do you take a joke as "hating"?

[Ken_FSU]

[acme54321]

It would be really cool if they restored the original facade of the bank building.

Gateway Jax!!!!



https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/mar/05/gateway-jax-buys-ambassador-hotel-block-downtown-for-17-million/

"Gateway Jax is developing a mixed-use development called Pearl Square adjacent to the south of the hotel block."

I swear whoever writes these articles at the Daily Record needs to learn how to read a map.

[Ken_FSU]

Gateway Jax is the hero that DT Jax needed.

Feels like they are genuinely poised to create a market.

Similarly, I think they're less looking at the Jacksonville market from a 2025 perspective as they are planning for what they think Jax will be 5 or 10 years down the road.

Exciting times.

[jaxlongtimer]

Similarly, I think they're less looking at the Jacksonville market from a 2025 perspective as they are planning for what they think Jax will be 5 or 10 years down the road.

Now, if we could only get City planners to think the same way... really, even further out, say 10 to 25 or more years out. 

If we achieve the desired success for Downtown, such as thousands of residents and many more visitors, we will need much more in the way of public spaces including green spaces and access to the river.  Giving away such public lands today to developers will be regretted by all in the future.
-------------------------------------------
FYI, the building they call the Central National Bank was previously the home of Marine National Bank which, following a merger with the bank holding company of Alliance Mortgage (formerly Charter Mortgage, a subsidiary of The Charter Company, then Florida National Banks followed by Owens Illinois) and other acquisitions became EverBank.

[Steve]

Looks like the old Independent Life building is not included in the sale?

[thelakelander]

Doesn't appear so. But the old Independent Life building has no parking. So I would not be surprised if it eventually ends up in their hands as well. Anyway, I'm glad to see that this will be more than a La Quinta Inn.

[heights unknown]

The day I read that St. Augustine was foreclosing, I knew that most or all of those properties would be purchased/taken over by Gateway (B. Moll); I just knew it.