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

http://abi98.net/Suncoast-Schools-Federal-Credit-Union/Riverside-Schoolar/
Within the next two years, at leastg four hotels will be built off Airport andDuval roads, using a more modern, high-tech look to attract businese travelers. Older hotels have responded by investing in buying largerplasma televisions, turningg regular rooms into suites and addin g popular coffee shops. Springhill Suites by Marriott will be one of the first new hotelasto open, in early 2008. The hotel, off Airport will have in-room high-spee Internet access, 24-hour food service and bedroomws separated from the livinh rooms as most modern suitesare offering. Two hotels are also schedulesd to be built across from the River City Marketplace on Duval Road.
The , a hotel investment company based in South recently bought morethan 6.1 acre s off Duval Road to build two upscale The group purchased the two parcels because of the growingv airport market and Riveer City Marketplace, said Chrise Bills, president and CEO. The first hotel, part of "aloft," a new brand the company is launching, will be a 135-room structure. Construction is scheduled to begin this summefr and it will open in May Bills said. The Summit Group is working on three alofts in the including onein Jacksonville. Aloft is a new seriesw of the W Hotelsw operatedby , baser in New York. The Jacksonville location will be the firsft onein Florida.
The upscale, trendyt style targets the weekdaybusiness traveler, Bills The Summit Group is evaluating three different brandse for the second hotel that is scheduleds to break ground in fall 2008. Silver a real estate investment and development company basefd in Boca Ratonand Washington, D.C., recentlh bought 6.9 acres of property off Airport and Ranc h roads and will build a Hyatt Place The six-story, 127-room Hyatt Place is the firs t in Florida of a franchise created by It will be the fourthh Hyatt Place to be built in the nation among 125 plannedd to open in the next two years, Chietf Operating Officer Marvin Bolinger said.
Constructionn is scheduled to begin earlhy summer 2007 and the hotel will open 12 to 15 months This is the first timeSilveer Cos. has built in Jacksonville and it selected the JIA area becaused of the market community and its basedin Jackson, Miss., he said. Silver Cos. planw to have another hotel and restauranrt on the property but has not yet confirmeddthe brands. There's enough land for another 100-room hotel, Bolinger said. The Hyatt Placs is a more modern, high-tech design with oversized high-definition 42-inch plasma TVs and 24-hour food said Gaines Sturdivant, president of MMI.
The which will also manage the hotel, has operated four hotelsz near JIA for35 years, all of whicgh have recently been renovated or are beinv renovated. The Holiday Inn Airport off Airportt Road is undergoing morethan $1 million in renovationzs to upgrade about 75 rooms with flat-screemn TVs and new furniture and to improvew the lobby and the restaurant. The lobby will also include a shop with a businesa center andplasma TVs. "Ic you don't step up to the competition, you're goingy to get your lunch money stolen," said Donald Harris, director of food and beverage operationsfor MMI. Fairfielr Inn by Marriott on Airport Road recentlycompletedc $1.
5 million in renovations, turningb 21 rooms into suites. It will be renamee Fairfield Inn & Suites, whichu will also allow it to upgrades its rates to stay competitive with the new Residence Inn by Marriott on Airport Road spentgabout $900,000 last year renovating 78 rooms and installinvg a full breakfast And that's just a few hotels in the area that startecd renovating, Harris said. "We have finallhy become a destination.
"