Hotel operator Kanti Patel plans to open Jacksonville’s first Home2 Suites by Hilton in the Gate Parkway area, with construction starting late this year.
Home2 Suites said the hotel should open in January 2019.
The 104-room, five-story hotel is planned on 1.8 acres along the north side of Deerwood Park Boulevard, east of Gate Parkway.
Vista Hotel VI Inc. of St. Augustine, led by Patel, bought the property from the Skinner family in 2007, just as the Great Recession was starting.
Patel said that at the time, he wanted to build a 125-room full-service Hilton there but his group decided not to do so.
He said last week he would rather deal with a limited-service hotel.
“The market is good. It’s picking up everywhere in the U.S.,” Patel said. “So the time is right.”
The 3.54-acre site has space for a second five-story hotel, with 102 rooms. Patel said there was no decision on that development.
He said it will depend on market conditions.
Patel said construction should start in November on the Home2 Suites by Hilton and be completed in about a year. He estimates the investment at $14 million to $15 million.
The site is near the new $75 million Gateway Village at Town Center at southwest Gate Parkway and Deerwood Park Boulevard.
The Gate Parkway area south of Butler Boulevard is lined with existing and new development, including the Town Center One office building; the Southside Quarter residential, office and retail center; and Ikea.
St. Johns Town Center is at Gate Parkway north of Butler Boulevard.
Patel’s group owns several Jacksonville-area hotels, including the Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn & Suites along Lenoir Avenue, a Best Western along Collins Road and seven hotels in St. Augustine.
Home2 Suites is an extended-stay hotel brand. Patel considers it a little better because of the reputation of Hilton.
A location search on the Home2 Suites site finds 204 hotels of its brand operate in the U.S., including 11 in Florida in Destin, Gainesville, Lake City, Nokomis, Orlando, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tampa, Florida City and two in Fort Lauderdale.
Home2 Suites by Hilton calls itself the innovative mid-scale, all-suite extended-stay hotel “designed for savvy, sophisticated, cost-conscious travelers staying a few months or a few nights”
The hotels are pet-friendly.
The first opened in February 2011 in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Chaffee Point is slated to gain two more hotels on its last two lots, including a Home2 Suites by Hilton.
Development partner Dhimant Soni in Lake City said Friday his group will build a 110-room Courtyard by Marriott first and later a 90-unit Home2 Suites.
He said construction on the Courtyard by Marriott should start within a year and be completed a year later.
Soni said work would start on the Home2 Suites after the Courtyard was completed.
Each would be five stories.
“Chaffee is a good market,” Soni said.
Chaffee Hotel LLC paid $1.1 million for two properties along Chaffee Point Boulevard, south of Interstate 10 and east of Chaffee Road in West Jacksonville.
As the developer, Dr. Minesh Patel of Lake City previously filed site plans for a 110-room and a 90-room hotel on the 3.44 acres.
The addresses are listed as 501 and 513 Chaffee Point Blvd.
Patel is the manager of Chaffee Hotel LLC, which bought the properties from Chaffee BBQ LLC and Chaffee Point LLC.
Developer Warren “Buzz” Tyre with Commercial Real Estate Solutions of Jacksonville Inc. brokered the sale for the lots.
The company represented the buyer and seller. He said Patel and Soni were the buyers.
Chaffee Point already features a Fairfield Inn & Suites, Hampton Inn, Best Western and Holiday Inn Express & Suites. Tyre said those hotels comprise 400 rooms.
Tyre developed the 40-acre Chaffee Point project, which now includes the hotels, Winn-Dixie, Wendy’s, Family Dollar, Cracker Barrel, McDonald’s and land where Sleiman Enterprises developed a shopping center.
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