A demolished hotel site with vegetation overgrowth and tattered fencing is for sale along the Arlington Expressway.
Keyes Commercial of Aventura is marketing the 18.48-acre site at 5865 Arlington Expressway for $13.77 million.
The location was developed more than 60 years ago as a hotel resort and through the decades ended as an abandoned property with calls from Arlington leaders for demolition.
The Duval County Property Appraiser determines the fair market value of the site, which comprises two parcels, totals $5.23 million. It defines that as based on the market of what a willing purchaser would likely pay a willing seller, exclusive of reasonable fees and transaction costs.
A final purchase price is based on what a buyer is willing to pay that a seller will accept.
The property is assessed for tax purposes at almost $1.34 million.
‘Canvas for the next transformative project’
The site is north along the Arlington Expressway, east of the former Town & Country Shopping Center that is being renovated into the College Park retail and commercial center.
It is 4 miles from Downtown over the Mathews Bridge, which opened in 1953 to launch rural Arlington as a new and trendy suburb.
Jacksonville-based North Florida Waste Management & Demolition was hired to demolish the hotel structures and clear the site in 2023.
David Heinrich with Keyes Commercial listed the property as a “Great Opportunity for Development.” It is zoned CCG-2 Commercial.
Keyes Commercial posted for-sale-or-lease signs on the property and has an online for-sale flyer.
The flyer says zoning is permitted for up to 60 feet, which would be a five-story building.
Heinrich said Feb. 3 by email that “one of the largest and most strategically positioned redevelopment sites in the Arlington area has officially come to market, offering developers a rare opportunity to reshape a nearly full city block along one of Jacksonville’s most heavily traveled corridors.”
He said the site is listed at about $745,000 per acre and is being marketed exclusively by him from The Keyes Co.
The site comprises two adjacent parcels of 14.27 acres and 4.21 acres “that together form almost an entire square block, a scarcity in today’s infill-constrained market.”
He said the property “benefits from exceptional visibility to more than 55,000 vehicles per day, positioning it as a prime candidate for large-scale commercial, mixed-use, or residential redevelopment. The land is currently vacant, though it previously supported 11 buildings, meaning much of the heavy lifting has already been completed for a future developer.”
Heinrich said that the site’s zoning as Commercial Community/General-2 allows for structures up to 60 feet in height, or about five floors, with no maximum lot coverage, “subject to standard development requirements such as landscaping and pedestrian infrastructure.”
“The zoning flexibility opens the door to a wide range of uses, including hotels, retail centers, medical facilities, offices, movie theaters, and destination commercial projects.”
Site potential
He said residential developers are eyeing the property’s long-term potential.
“According to the City of Jacksonville, the land can be rezoned to support large-scale townhome or multifamily development, with entitlement timelines estimated at five to six months. Conceptually, the site could accommodate approximately close to 1,000 residential units, aligning with the city’s growing demand for housing near employment centers and major transportation corridors.”
Heinrich said the site is minutes from Downtown, Atlantic Boulevard and Southside, convenient to EverBank Stadium, Mayport Naval Station, Jacksonville International Airport and the beaches.
The flyer says there are 37,000 households within 3 miles.
Heinrich said in the email that within 5 miles, the population of more than 205,000 residents and more than 83,000 households average a household income exceeding $72,000.
He considers that income “a strong foundation for both residential absorption and commercial demand.”
“‘For serious investors and visionary developers, the Arlington Expressway site represents not just land for sale, but a canvas for the next transformative project in one of Jacksonville’s evolving gateways.”
The property anchors the southern part of the city’s Renew Arlington Community Redevelopment Area boundary for targeted redevelopment.
It and the adjacent College Park are in what the CRA’s zoning overlay calls the “catalyst character area.”
A recap
In its heyday, the site was the Thunderbird Motor Hotel and Dinner Theatre venue in Arlington that saw dinner theater performers, weddings and rehearsal dinners, parties and other celebrations in a property with two pools and a signature bar.
After the city issued demolition permits in February 2023, Jacksonville Beach-based KLT Construction Inc. subcontracted with North Florida Waste Management & Demolition.
The two permits comprised demolition of a two-story hotel and 10 two-story buildings.
Drivers along the expressway and service road could not see the depth and expanse of the property, which records show comprised 277 units and 11 buildings.
In starting their work, North Florida Waste Management & Demolition owner Tony Zajni said his team found men camped in the rooms in the back of the property in four sturdier concrete-block structures.
While dates differ from property records, Abandonedfl.com says the Thunderbird Motor Hotel opened in 1959.
It said a major renovation in 1969 “transformed the Thunderbird into an extravagant Polynesian and American Indian-themed hotel that became host to countless stars such as The Rolling Stones, Fats Domino, Ann Sothern, and the Sammy Spear Orchestra of The Jackie Gleason Show.”
Multiple owners
From the 1970s to the late 2010s, the property changed hands multiple times, the site said.
After it was the Thunderbird, the property served as a Quality Inn and a Ramada Inn Conference Center, among other uses. It was sold several times, including to Bethelite Inc., affiliated with Bethel Baptist Institutional Church.
Property records show 770 Inn and Suites LLC of Miami bought the property in 2017 and quitclaimed the property to Happy New Good Year 770 LLC on Oct. 25, 2019. Happy New Good Year 770’s address in Wilmington, Delaware, is that of CSC North America. CSC is a document recording service.
Before the demolition, the property had been unused for more than a decade and seemed to fall apart by neglect.
In November 2019, a fire destroyed an empty storage building.
In March 2020, as the pandemic began, the city said new property ownership led to re-issued condemnation signs on the closed property warning that it faces demolition.
The city Municipal Code Compliance Division ordered the condemnation of the property.
Ownership worked on settlement agreements with the city that gave it a year to demolish or rehab the structures.
As of May 2022, the property owner, Yuval “Giovanni” Fishman, was working toward redevelopment of the site.
Fishman, who owns the property through “Happy New Good Year 770 LLC; 770 Inn and Suites,” signed an authorization Feb. 2, 2022, for a contractor to demolish the property.
The February 2023 permits showed the Municipal Code Compliance Division code as “unsafe/condemn.”