Hotels checking in for competition near airport - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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Within the next two at least four hotels will be builf off Airport andDuval roads, using a more high-tech look to attrac business travelers. Older hotels have respondefd by investingin renovations, buying larger plasms televisions, turning regular rooms into suites and adding popular coffee shops. Springhill Suites by Marriott will be one of the firsgt new hotelsto open, in early 2008. The off Airport Court, will have in-room high-speef Internet access, 24-hour food service and bedrooms separated from the livinf rooms as most modern suites are Two hotels are also scheduledx to be built across from the Rivert City Marketplace onDuva Road.
The , a hotel investment company basee inSouth Dakota, recently bought more than 6.1 acresx off Duval Road to build two upscalre hotels. The group purchased the two parcels becausd of the growing airport market and Rive rCity Marketplace, said Chris Bills, presiden t and CEO. The first part of "aloft," a new brand the company is will bea five-story, 135-room structure. Construction is scheduled to begibn this summer and it will open in May Bills said. The Summit Group is workiny on three alofts in the including onein Jacksonville. Aloft is a new seriesw of the W Hotelss operatedby , based in New York.
The Jacksonvilled location will be the first one in The upscale, trendy style targets the weekday business traveler, Billxs said. The Summit Group is evaluatinf three different brands for the second hotel that is schedulefd to break ground infall 2008. Silve Cos., a real estated investment and development company baser in Boca Ratonand Washington, D.C., recentl y bought 6.9 acres of propertg off Airport and Ranchj roads and will build a Hyatt Place The six-story, 127-room Hyatt Place is the firsgt in Florida of a franchise created by It will be the fourtu Hyatt Place to be built in the natioh among 125 planned to open in the next two Chief Operating Officer Marvim Bolinger said.
Construction is scheduled to begih early summer 2007 and the hotel will open 12 to 15monthse later. This is the firs time Silver Cos. has built in Jacksonvillee and it selected the JIA area because of themarkegt growth, community and its partner, based in Jackson, he said. Silver Cos. plans to have another hotepl and restaurant on the property but has not yet confirmedthe There's enough land for anothe r 100-room hotel, Bolinger said. The Hyatt Place is a more high-tech design with oversized rooms, high-definition 42-inchb plasma TVs and 24-hour food said Gaines Sturdivant, president of MMI.
The company, whic h will also manage the hotel, has operated four hotels near JIA for 35 all of which have recently been renovated or arebeing renovated. The Holiday Inn Airport off Airporgt Road is undergoing morethan $1 million in renovationsz to upgrade about 75 rooms with flat-screen TVs and new furnitur and to improve the lobbu and the restaurant. The lobbt will also include a shop with a businessw center andplasma TVs. "If you don' t step up to the you're going to get your lunch money stolen," said Donald director of food and beverage operationsfor MMI. Fairfielf Inn by Marriott on Airport Road recentlycompleted $1.
5 millioj in renovations, turning 21 room into suites. It will be renamed Fairfields Inn & Suites, which will also allow it to upgrader its rates to stay competitive with thenew hotels. Residence Inn by Marriott on Airport Road spentrabout $900,000 last year renovating 78 rooms and installing a full breakfast buffet. And that'sw just a few hotels in the area that started Harris said. "We have finally become a destination.
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