Already a red-hot tourist destination, Jacksonville Beach will soon be able to welcome even more visitors.
Despite the town’s relatively small size, it has no less than four different new hotel projects in the works right now.
Early construction work began last year on a new Element by Westin Hotel at the corner of Beach Boulevard and 3rd Street S. The three-story, 80-room hotel is expected to open by late 2020. It’ll be the first entry into the Jacksonville market for the Element by Westin label, which is an extended-stay concept with extra attention paid to eco-friendliness.
At the northwest corner of 1st Street N. and 6th Avenue N., a development group plans to build a six-story mixed-use building with both apartment and hotel units. The hotel would have its own lobby and occupy the top three floors. The branding of the hotel has yet to be announced, but like Element, it’s an extended-stay concept. The site has been vacant since 2013; the current developers bought the property in 2014.
Last week, plans were submitted for a new, 136-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott at the site of the existing restaurant The Pier Cantina. The property is adjacent to the pier and will allow the hotel to offer an oceanfront restaurant and bar – as well as 600 square feet of ground-floor retail.
And of course, the biggest pending hotel project in Jax Beach is the upcoming oceanfront Margaritaville Beach Hotel.
Margaritaville broke ground in March on an eight-story, 202-room resort along Ocean Front North, next to Casa Marina Hotel. Along with amenities like a coffee shop and fitness center, it will feature a two-story LandShark Bar & Grill as well as an outdoor recreation area with a pool and fire pits.
“Jacksonville is one of the fastest-growing destinations in Florida and is well recognized as a classic beach town escape,” Margaritaville’s senior VP of development Rick Cunningham said in a press release about the upcoming hotel.
Margaritaville is expected to open sometime in 2021. The hotel brand is named for a famous Jimmy Buffett song and modeled upon the culture of Buffett and his fans.
Altogether, Jacksonville Beach will soon have more than 400 new hotel units available. These units will accommodate everyone from out-of-town tourists to family members with a loved one at the nearby Mayo Clinic.
Whoever makes use of the rooms, it’s definitely a bit of good news for Jax Beach’s – and even Jacksonville’s – local economy.
It is great to have more hotels open up. Hopefully it leads to more tourists/visitors. It will help local small business owners in jax beach.
as a native Floridian that appreciates my landscapes, I come from a robust city .. Miami with beautiful beaches nevertheless overburden with the many visitors that do come to enjoy, however I come to feel with certain beaches like st peterberg beach , Clearwater and places like this teaches me the blessing of having a natural non over populated place for me to cleanse out , the homely natives.. and that s what Jacksonville beach is to me .. serene and peace,, I vote not to destroy It… have you been on this beach on a full moon night sitting alongside the beach alongside the tide cut river that runs the coastline dividing me from sea coast
Been coming to jax beach for 30+ years I sure hope they Don’t turn it into an overcrowded over noisy over priced disaster!