Luxury hotel, 200 apartments and retail coming to site of former Ambassador Hote

[acme54321]

Starting to feel like 2006 around here! 

[MusicMan]

"Assuming the parking lot next to Omni that sold this week to the Miami developer."

Can someone post a link to this story, if a link exists, please?

[thelakelander]

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/the-mathis-report-miami-investor-buys-downtown-parking-lot-next-to-omni-jacksonville-hotel

[itsfantastic1]

This is really great for the Ambassador and it's always great to see new residences downtown, but is the neighboring 404 N. Julia building of any significance? Seems like just giving it a face-lift would be cheaper than a full tear down. As there is a huge vacant lot next to it on Duval. Is that part of the project as well?

[thelakelander]

This is really great for the Ambassador and it's always great to see new residences downtown, but is the neighboring 404 N. Julia building of any significance? Seems like just giving it a face-lift would be cheaper than a full tear down. As there is a huge vacant lot next to it on Duval. Is that part of the project as well?

Yes it's historic but altered beyond recognition. It's the old Jax Chamber of Commerce building. The bones may be the same but the facade and roof were dramatically changed in the 1950s.

[thelakelander]

You can see a picture of it here: https://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Architecture/Ambassador-Hotel/i-zVmGhxF/A

[heights unknown]

^I don't know anything beyond what's in the article, but to build 200 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail (twice the size of the Carling, for context} on that parcel, even with offsite parking, they'd have to go pretty vertical.

Thanks Ken. I agree.

[heights unknown]

Also, per the article, the building adjacent to the Ambassador (404 N. Julia) will be demolished to make way for 200 apartments with ground-level retail. Seems like a crazy high number of units for that parcel unless they go like 15+ stories. I wonder what the parking plan is for 300+ vehicles?

Just looked at the parcel. In comparison, 11 E has about that many apartments but no where near that much retail. Oh, and 11E is 17 floors. They probably don’t have to go that high, but they might.

Regardless, this development both in size and importance is, as our friend at Fucillo Nissan would say....

LOLOL....super response.

[heights unknown]

^I don't know anything beyond what's in the article, but to build 200 apartments and 15,000 square feet of retail (twice the size of the Carling, for context} on that parcel, even with offsite parking, they'd have to go pretty vertical.

KenFSU: Then lets go vertical.  It's about time for a flurry of high rise construction in downtown, and that spot is just right for a 15-20 story high rise with parking underneath.

I think that is the direction they should go, and the direction that we need to go in; our skyline is good, but boring and lacking to say the least for a city of close to 1 million people; however, buildings and skylines don't make a city. We need to get more business as well into the urban core as well as people and residents to really make it all click; and this is just another piece of the puzzle to forge BIG JAX forward toward even more prosperity and success!!!

[itsfantastic1]

This is really great for the Ambassador and it's always great to see new residences downtown, but is the neighboring 404 N. Julia building of any significance? Seems like just giving it a face-lift would be cheaper than a full tear down. As there is a huge vacant lot next to it on Duval. Is that part of the project as well?

Yes it's historic but altered beyond recognition. It's the old Jax Chamber of Commerce building. The bones may be the same but the facade and roof were dramatically changed in the 1950s.

Thanks, I just hope then whatever they put there maintains the character of the block seeing how there are some historic buildings nearby, it would be quite jarring to see a Vestcor modern style apartment complex next to the Old Post Office and Ambassador Hotel.

[heights unknown]

In my opinion, let's do something a little different downtown; let's build this building with NO off site parking; build 15 to 20 stories pure residential, with 5 to 10 stories of parking below the residences. THIS could be made iconic for Jax if the right architect and developer is chosen.

[marcuscnelson]

In my opinion, let's do something a little different downtown; let's build this building with NO off site parking; build 15 to 20 stories pure residential, with 5 to 10 stories of parking below the residences. THIS could be made iconic for Jax if the right architect and developer is chosen.

That'd really be something, but I would really question if the market is ready for something that tall as new construction. I could be wrong, and I'd love to be, but as long as we get something that brings residents and business downtown while fitting into the neighborhood, I'm happy.

[acme54321]

You can see a picture of it here: https://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Architecture/Ambassador-Hotel/i-zVmGhxF/A

Wow, that's a shame.

[KenFSU]

You can see a picture of it here: https://photos.metrojacksonville.com/Architecture/Ambassador-Hotel/i-zVmGhxF/A

Wow, that's a shame.

Much less of a shame when you see the way it looks now. I'm all for saving our historic building stock from the wrecking ball, and I'd stand in front of the ball myself if they tried to tear down the Ambassador, but what's left of the neighboring building is neither attractive nor interesting. If knocking it down means adding 200-300 new residents downtown and making the Ambassador project viable, it's a small price to pay for the greater good.

[JaxJersey-licious]

This is good news and I'm really excited about the all the new interest and plans for the core over this year, but what happened to the plans for the old JEA building site next door? I believe it was of similar scope to the plans for the Ambassador without the hotel component.

And what about the track record of this Axis Hotels group? Too tired to look it up now myself right now but I'd like to see some renderings from recent projects they've done and are working on to get a glimpse of what could be in store for this site.