Torn out to the walls, the rooms in one wing of the Lexington Hotel & Conference Center Jacksonville Riverwalk are almost ready to be rebuilt with new everything.
The 143 rooms, six bridge rooms and three suites should be completed in March. The bridge rooms are first-floor meeting rooms and suites, with half of those facing the pool area, named after six of the city’s bridges crossing the St. Johns River.
That allows the owners, who bought the 35-year-old hotel in June, to start tearing out the remaining 180 rooms for reconstruction.
A liquidator is removing the furniture from the balance of the rooms.
By year-end or early 2017, Vantage Hospitality Group intends to complete the renovations to the five-story structure at 1515 Prudential Drive.
“The design we are implementing will play off our Lexington prototype design standards, including modern technology, with a nautical twist of design,” said Gary Rito, president of Brown Nester – Florida LLC, an affiliate of Coral Springs-based Vantage Hospitality.
Brown Nester is the development and construction company for the renovations.
That design makes sense, Rito said, based on the hotel’s location on the Southbank riverfront.
LexDevCoJax LLC, which Vantage set up to buy and own the Lexington, closed in December on a $21.56 million loan from Branch Banking and Trust Co. That loan retires a former mortgage.
The funds cover the hard and soft costs to complete the renovations.
Renovations, furniture, fixtures and equipment will cost $12 million to $13 million.
The hotel will remain open during the 12- to 14-month renovation timeframe.
Upon buying the 323-room hotel for $9 million June 1, Vantage Hospitality began maintenance work and replaced the windows.
Roofing should start Monday, Rito said.
Work should start in the second quarter on the 35,000 square feet of conference, ballroom and exhibit space on the ground floor. The pool area will be redone in the third quarter, adding more palm trees, cabanas and opening up the area.
The entry, lobby and lounge areas will be renovated in stages. The registration area will be moved. The bar and lounge area will gain a Lexington-signature loggia with a fireplace and outdoor seating.
The front porte cochere will be renovated and another added to the conference center in the back.
Also on the first floor, the restaurant should be renovated, including with outdoor seating, by the second quarter. There also will be a newly designed business center.
The fourth floor of more than 30 rooms will become a concierge floor. Rito said no decision has been made yet for the fifth-floor meeting and terrace area, although he would like to see a wine-champagne-martini bar.
Phoenix Building Corp. SE of Stuart is the contractor.
Rito has design boards that show the décor in greens, blues, grays and earth and wood tones and finishes, all tied into the hotel’s nautical theme.
Upon completion, the hotel will have more than 320 rooms, although the exact count is still being decided.
Since June 5, the city has issued 10 permits for signs, renovations and roofing, totaling $3.2 million.
The structure was built in 1981 as a Sheraton and has operated as a Radisson and most recently, a Wyndham.
It was foreclosed and bank-owned when Vantage Hospitality bought it.
Rito said the owners also are talking with new and prospective neighboring landowners about how to improve common access and other elements.
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