Just shy of five months after the opening of the first AC Hotel by Marriott in Northeast Florida, plans have emerged to expand the brand to Downtown Jacksonville.
The Downtown Development Review Board is scheduled to consider conceptual approval of a proposed AC Hotel and parking deck at the board’s Aug. 8 meeting.
The six-story hotel and two-story parking structure would be built on portions of lots at 800 and 825 Dora St. in Brooklyn, according to a staff report attached to the DDRB’s agenda.
The lots, which face each other across Dora Street, are between Magnolia and Oak streets near Marriott’s Residence Inn Jacksonville Downtown at 357 Oak St.
Plans for the construction follow the March 6 opening of AC Hotel by Marriott in St. Johns Town Center, the brand’s first property in the region. According to ac-hotels.marriott.com, there are 249 AC properties worldwide, including 128 in North America.
As described in a 2014 story in Entrepreneur magazine, the AC properties cater to millennials and other younger travelers with such features as “minimalist, European” room designs, lounges that serve a “curated menu of small bites” along with cocktails and other beverages, and amenities like TVs that can be connected to guests’ own devices.
The Downtown hotel is planned on the 800 Dora St. lot, where it would abut a surface parking lot used by the Residence Inn.
The parking deck is an L-shaped structure that would be built on the site of the defunct Liddy’s Machine Shop at 825 Dora St. The machine shop building would be demolished to make way for the parking structure.
In 2022, Vermont-based wine shop Dedalus bought the Liddy’s property to convert it to a 10,000-square-foot multiuse space with 7,000 square feet for a wine bar, a cafe, a retail center and a vinyl music listening room. Dedalus purchased seven other parcels along with the Liddy’s property.
The DDRB granted conceptual approval to the proposed adaptive reuse in April 2023, but the project fizzled after being found economically infeasible.
Duval County property records show the owner of property as Jax Lifestyle Hospitality LLC. A special warranty deed filed April 11, 2024, with the Duval County Clerk shows Dedalus granting the properties to the LLC.
The State Division of Corporations lists a Miami address for Jax Lifestyle Hospitality LLC. Chirag B. Desai of Miami is listed as the registered agent.
DDRB staff recommends approval of the conceptual design with several conditions, including screening for rooftop-mounted mechanical equipment, access areas and other elements, a study to determine whether shading requirements are being met and floor plans showing locations of trash containers and loading areas. Conditions also include requiring a meeting between the developer and staff to go over any deviations the developer may seek in the Downtown Zoning Overlay.
RBA Group Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina, is listed in DDRB documents as designer.
Renderings of the hotel building show signage identifying it as AC Jacksonville on the front and rear, with AC Hotels Marriott badging also displayed on two exterior walls. Conceptual designs of the parking structure include signage and ground-level murals themed on Brooklyn and its history, including signs paying tribute to Liddy’s.
Liddy’s was founded in 1929 and operated for 91 years, according to several online sources. Property records show the 10,919-square foot shop building was built in 1954.