A 143-Room, 4-Story Hotel Is Taking Shape at Seven Pines in Southeast Jacksonville: Site-Clearing Permit Filed, Brand Not Yet Named

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A site-clearing permit has been filed for a four-story hotel planned at Seven Pines, the master-planned community near Interstate 295 and Butler Boulevard in southeast Jacksonville. The hotel would have about 143 rooms, a pool and a restaurant, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. The brand has not been identified, and the cost has not been reported.

What is planned

The hotel would sit on about 3.5 acres at 12039 Gathering Place, with its entrance on Gathering Place. The site is along Buckfield Circle, south of The Village at Seven Pines shopping center and north of residential development. A site plan attached to a sale agreement shows 142 parking spaces.

The room count differs slightly depending on the document. The city's Planning Department identified the hotel as 143 units, while a JEA service availability letter from May referred to a 144-room hotel with a restaurant. The JEA letter lists the restaurant at 3,242 square feet, according to the Daily Record. The Daily Record describes the building as four stories with a pool.

Permits and approvals so far

The owner of the property is Jacksonville Hotels II LLC, which has filed a minor modification request with the St. Johns River Water Management District to build the hotel, parking, utilities and related infrastructure. The City of Jacksonville Planning Department approved a change to the 2019 planned unit development that governs the property. That approval did not extend to the design of the site.

The new site-clearing permit, filed with the city and reported Nov. 6, is the first visible step toward construction. A clearing permit does not mean a building permit has been issued. The reports did not say when work could start or when the hotel might open.

Who is behind it

Florida corporate records list Palmetto Hospitality GM LLC, based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, as the manager of the ownership company. The civil engineer is England, Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville. The Daily Record said the two LLCs and OTO Development share an address and a representative, which points to OTO as the likely developer, though the company has not confirmed that in the reports.

OTO Development develops and manages hotels and has Jacksonville experience. Its portfolio includes the AC Hotel Jacksonville St. Johns Town Center, and it manages at least 56 hotels in 10 states and Washington, D.C., 16 of them in Florida. The company says its goal is "to develop and manage great select-service hotels with the best brands in the top markets in the United States."

The neighborhood around it

Seven Pines is a master-planned community of more than 1,000 acres. Regency Centers, the Jacksonville-based shopping-center company, says the plan includes about 1,600 single-family homes and apartments, along with more than 1 million square feet of commercial and retail space. That description comes from the company's sponsored marketing material, so the numbers are its own.

The Village at Seven Pines is the retail center at the southeast corner of Butler Boulevard and I-295. It is a 250,000-square-foot project with Publix as the anchor, and it was 74% leased and committed as of Regency's Sept. 28 announcement of 23 tenants. The tenants include Chase Bank, West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn Kids, Hawkers Asian Street Food and Chipotle Mexican Grill. The first stores are expected to open in 2027, and Regency plans to move its headquarters there from Downtown Jacksonville.

Why the location matters

The area is close to the St. Johns Town Center, the University of North Florida and one of the city's largest concentrations of office jobs, according to Regency's marketing material. A hotel there could draw business travelers visiting those employers as well as shoppers. The Daily Record did not report any studies of hotel demand in the area, so that is a reasonable expectation and not a forecast.

The interchange is also the southern end of an I-295 widening that the Florida Department of Transportation is studying, according to First Coast News. The state has said that project has right-of-way purchases underway but no construction funding yet. Any traffic effects from the hotel have not been described in public filings reviewed for this report.

What to watch

The key next steps are the water management district's decision on the modification request, a city review of the site design and a building permit. The hotel's brand is the biggest open question, because the filings do not name one. Updates should appear in city permit records and the Jacksonville Daily Record's coverage.

Quick facts

• Planned hotel: four stories, 143 rooms per the city, with a pool and restaurant.
• Location: 12039 Gathering Place, about 3.5 acres in Seven Pines.
• Filed: site-clearing permit with the City of Jacksonville, reported Nov. 6.
• Owner: Jacksonville Hotels II LLC; likely developer OTO Development.
• Brand and cost: not announced.