Kelco Management and Development Inc. and Corner Lot are planning a 100-room Home2 Suites by Hilton at 600 Park St.
The developer said plans for the hotel may change to “a more urban feel.”
A ground-floor restaurant with outdoor seating on the Rosselle Street side of the hotel,
The site plan for the Home2 Suites by Hilton project.
The Home2 Suites by Hilton site is now used as a parking lot. It is north of Jimmy John's sandwich shop on Park Street. (Google)
A Jacksonville-based limited-service hotel operator is partnering with Corner Lot Development Group to build a Home2 Suites by Hilton in Brooklyn.
Kelco Management and Development Inc. and Corner Lot are planning the 100-room hotel at 600 Park St. on land that is a parking lot for GuideWell Inc. employees.
Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow partner Cyndy Trimmer outlined the project Nov. 12 at a Downtown Development Review Board workshop.
Renderings and a site plan show a ground-floor restaurant with outdoor seating on the Rosselle Street side of the hotel and a surface parking lot screened by landscaping on the Chelsea Street side.
Corner Lot CEO Andy Allen said Nov. 13 the development partnership still is editing final designs for the estimated $17 million project to give it “a more urban feel.”
Kasper Architects + Associates is the project designer.
Kelco President Kelley Slay said the finished Home2 Suites predominantly will be windows and glass on the ground floor.
He said in a phone interview Nov. 13 that Kelco and Corner Lot are considering extending the restaurant space to the Park Street side if the city’s planned road diet increases pedestrian traffic.
Allen and Slay said the walkability and existing retail and restaurant stock in Brooklyn and nearby Five Points were key factors in choosing the site.
The proximity of Interstates 95 and 10 along with business travel to the future Fidelity National Information Services Inc. headquarters on Riverside Avenue were considered as drivers for hotel demand.
“I started seeing development growing from Downtown to Five Points, and I see that trend continuing. It’s mostly residential being built, but now some office with FIS,” Slay said. “I know that everyone is talking about Lot J, but growth is coming this way, too.”
Allen said plans are preliminary but he hopes to break ground by mid-2021. The development companies plan to buy the property through a joint limited liability company.
The site was purchased for $900,000 in 2016 by 600 Park Street LLC, according to Duval County Clerk of Court records.
The developers will begin searching for a restaurant operator within three months and likely will seek city-backed tax incentives from the Downtown Investment Authority, Allen said.
“Eventually, we’re going to go in and see what kind of help we can get from the DIA as far as a (Recapture Enhanced Value) grant is concerned,” Allen said. “What it costs will determine what type of help will be needed.”
Kelco owns limited-service hotels throughout the Southeast in Miami, Miami Beach, Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama, according to Slay.
He said they include a Holiday Inn Express at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and a Hampton Inn & Suites in Miami.
Slay lives in Jacksonville and the Home2 Suites on Park Street would be Kelco’s first product in Northeast Florida.
“We’re looking at a couple of other sites now in different locations,” Slay said. “I think there is a really good chance that we’ll do something else in this area.”
Corner Lot, headquartered in San Marco, focuses on apartment and retail projects.
The developer is leading several projects in Jacksonville, including the $40 million, 270-unit Duval Crossing apartments near Jacksonville International Airport and the 133-unit Park Place at San Marco apartments on South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church property.
