The Downtown Development Review Board is scheduled to consider final approval for Gateway Jax’s proposed restoration of the Ambassador Hotel on April 9.
Gateway Jax seeks to resurrect the property at 420 N. Julia St. as a boutique hotel with a guest lounge, restaurant and bar amenities.
In an application for final approval, the Gateway Jax development team says it has received a Certificate of Appropriateness for a historic restoration and will preserve and repair the building’s facades as required through the certificate.
Gateway Jax is a partnership between principal Bryan Moll, JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital. The partners plan a Downtown development that if fully built would involve an investment of more than $2 billion across 25 city blocks. According to thegatewayjax.com site, plans include more than 5,000 multifamily units and 500,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
The DDRB essentially serves as the planning commission for the eight districts that make up Downtown Jacksonville, with authority to approve designs of projects.
On Feb. 24, EnVision Design + Engineering submitted plans to the city for the restoration, which called for 109 hotel rooms, an 1,800-square-foot restaurant with 92 seats, a 1,600-square-foot bar area with 45 seats and a 1,000-square-foot kitchen. New streetscaping to meet Downtown design standards also was included.
Gateway Jax announced in March 2025 it was partnering with The Indigo Road Hospitality Group to redevelop the 102-year-old hotel, which has been vacant and exposed to the elements for years.
Gateway Jax bought the hotel and surrounding property a month earlier for $17 million. The purchase included nearby land where Gateway is building a 480-space parking garage.
The Ambassador is south across Church Street from Gateway’s Block N11, a seven-story mixed-use project at 515 N. Pearl St. Plans for the $45 million building, which is under construction, include 205 apartment units and 24,086 square feet of retail, commercial and storage space.
The hotel and parking garage will serve visitors to Pearl Square, Gateway Jax’s $750 million-plus, 10-block mixed-use development in Downtown’s NorthCore district north and west of City Hall.
The hotel opened in 1924 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Indigo Road Hospitality, based in Charleston, South Carolina, owns and operates O-Ku in Jacksonville Beach and plans to open Oak Steakhouse in The Greenleaf building at 208 N. Laura St., the headquarters of JWB Real Estate Capital.
The DDRB meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the main Jacksonville Public Library, 303 N. Laura St.