Kings Avenue Station Breaks Ground
What was once just an under-utilized parking lot will soon be two Hilton brand hotels, restaurants and retail space. It’s called Kings Avenue Station and is Jacksonville’s first transit-oriented development. Ground was broken for the project October 5.
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton joined JTA Executive Director Michael J. Blaylock, Chairman Cleve Warren, developer Michael Balanky and his partners Carlton Jones, Toney Sleiman and Mark Rimmer of the Kings Avenue Redevelopment Group, LLC; Hank Fonde of San Marco Hotel Partners, LLC (developer for the hotels); City Councilmen Don Redman (District 4) and Jay Jabour (At-Large); and a host of other dignitaries on a rainy, but otherwise exciting morning, to celebrate the start of the project.
“I’m excited that Mike Balanky and his partners are moving forward with this project,” said the Mayor. “I think we’ll see this entire area of San Marco change for the better as a result of this development.”
Balanky and his partners are building a 165,000 square foot shopping and hotel center on 10.4 acres of land owned by JTA that had been a surface parking lot next to the Kings Avenue parking garage and Skyway Station. The key to making this deal work, said Balanky, was access to both JTA’s parking garage and the adjacent Skyway station for quick and convenient transportation to the convention center and into downtown.
Blaylock says Kings Avenue Station is exactly the type of development he wants to see grow at other locations around Jacksonville.
“When developers consider transit and incorporate existing or future transit options into their designs, it will enhance that development’s diversity and potential,” said the JTA Executive Director/CEO. “Without the parking and transit options that were in already place, the Kings Avenue Station is just another development. Mike Balanky and his group took what was already here and made this location more viable.”
Besides having Skyway and the JTA fixed-route bus service as current transit options, the Kings Avenue Station has been identified as a possible future location for a bus rapid transit (BRT) super stop.
“BRT will significantly enhance the transportation experience for hotel guests, area employees and Southbank residents alike,” said Mike Miller, JTA Director of External Affairs. “It (BRT) will be a more efficient, expansive service utilizing the latest transportation technology. The potential for having BRT here is just another piece of this development that will make it so unique.”
Once it’s finished, Kings Avenue Station will feature 45,000 square feet of retail space and a total of 220 rooms in a dual Hilton brand hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites. According to Fonde, phase one of the $30 million project should be completed by the end of 2008.
JTA Executive Director/CEO Michael J. Blaylock is all smiles at Kings Ave. Station groundbreaking.
Mayor John Peyton explains how the new development will benefit San Marco and the Southbank.
Line up left to right: Cleve Warren, Hank Fonde, Mike Balanky, Michael Blaylock, Carlton Jones.