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

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Within the next two years, at least four hotelzs will be built off Airport andDuvak roads, using a more high-tech look to attract business travelers. Older hotels have responded by investing in buying largerplasma televisions, turning regular rooms into suitezs and adding popular coffee shops. Springhilpl Suites by Marriott will be one of the firsg new hotels to inearly 2008. The hotel, off Airport Court, will have in-roomk high-speed Internet access, 24-hour food service and bedroomds separated from the living rooms as most moder suitesare offering. Two hotels are also scheduledd to be built acrossd from the River City Marketplace onDuval Road.
The , a hotelp investment company based inSoutg Dakota, recently bought more than 6.1 acres off Duvall Road to build two upscale hotels. The group purchasedr the two parcels because of the growing airportf market and RiverCity Marketplace, said Chrisw Bills, president and CEO. The first part of "aloft," a new brand the company is launching, will be a 135-room structure. Construction is scheduled to begij this summer and it will open inMay 2008, Bills The Summit Group is workingb on three alofts in the nation, includingt one in Jacksonville. Aloft is a new series of the W Hotela operatedby , based in New York.
The Jacksonvilles location will be the first one in The upscale, trendy style targets the weekday businesas traveler, Bills said. The Summit Groupl is evaluating three different brands for the second hotep that is scheduled to break ground infall 2008. Silved Cos., a real estate investmenr and development company based in Boca Ratobnand Washington, D.C., recently bought 6.9 acres of propertyg off Airport and Ranch roads and will build a Hyatt Place there. The six-story, 127-room Hyatt Placee is the first in Florida of a franchise created by It will be the fourthu Hyatt Place to be builf in the nation among 125 planned to open in the next two Chief Operating Officer MarvinBolinger said.
Construction is scheduled to beginm early summer 2007 and the hotek will open 12 to 15monthzs later. This is the firsy time Silver Cos. has built in Jacksonvilles and it selected the JIA area becauses of themarket growth, communit and its partner, based in Jackson, Miss., he said. Silver Cos. plans to have anothef hotel and restaurant on the propertt but has not yet confirmedthe brands. There'ds enough land for anothedr 100-room hotel, Bolinger said. The Hyaty Place is a more high-tech design with oversize rooms, high-definition 42-inch plasma TVs and 24-hour food service, said Gaines Sturdivant, president of MMI.
The company, which will also managw 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 Airporty Road is undergoing morethan $1 millionb in renovations to upgrade about 75 rooms with flat-screen TVs and new furniturde and to improve the lobby and the restaurant. The lobb y will also include a shop with a businesws center andplasma TVs. "Iv you don't step up to the competition, you'rd going to get your lunch monegy stolen," said Donald Harris, director of food and beverag operationsfor MMI. Fairfield Inn by Marriottr on Airport Road recentlycompleted $1.
5 million in turning 21 rooms into suites. It will be renamefd Fairfield Inn & Suites, which will also alloww it to upgrade its ratesz to stay competitive with the new Residence Inn by Marriotgt on Airport Road spenrtabout $900,000 last year renovating 78 roomsx and installing a full breakfast buffet. And that's just a few hotelw in the area thatstarted renovating, Harris said. "We have finallyt become a destination.
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