The city is reviewing civil engineering plans for Gateway Jax’s restoration of the historic Ambassador Hotel in Downtown Jacksonville.
Filed Feb. 24 by EnVision Design + Engineering, the plans for the property at 420 N. Julia St. include 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 is 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.
In the Indigo announcement, Gateway Jax said plans were to remodel the structure to have a minimum of 100 guest rooms, high-end restaurant and bar, conference space and other amenities.
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.
During a Feb. 12 presentation, Downtown Investment Authority CEO Colin Tarbert told the Jacksonville City Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown that Gateway had approached the DIA about a $10 million completion grant for the Ambassador Hotel.
Tarbert said that request had yet to be submitted to the DIA board.
In June 2025, the Downtown Development Review Board approved the final design of the parking garage next to the hotel.
The approval came on an amendment to a design approved in 2021 for renovation of the hotel.
The Indigo Road Hospitality (IRHG), 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.
JWB is a partner in Gateway Jax with principal Bryan Moll and DLP Capital.
The March 2025 release said Indigo Road operates in cities such as Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, all of which have undergone major redevelopments in their downtown areas.