After a lengthy lull in activity and uncertain murmurs from locals, Margaritaville appears to be on track for a new location in Beachwalk.
According to the Jacksonville Business Journal, developers filed permit applications for a four-story structure spanning 65,117 square-feet perched on the community’s Crystal Lagoon.
The Compass Hotel by Margaritaville venture will feature 111 rooms and 68 short term stay cottages on four acres.
“[The] Beachwalk has even brighter days ahead with the incredible branding collaboration with Margaritaville on the hospitality-oriented Compass hotel and cottages,” Alfonso Costa Jr., COO of developer Falcone Group, told the outlet.
Costa called the development at 220 and 259 Beachwalk Shore Drive “one of the most exciting ventures we are undertaking.”
The news will reassure Beachwalk residents and other area locals concerned over recent inactivity at the site since word of the project first broke.
As reported by The Citizen last year, Costa Jr. scrapped a plan for a dining hub at the site after talks with potential tenants fizzled.
The Falcone Group pivoted to the cottage concept that will ring the lagoon with five-bedroom residences.
The units would be managed by the Margaritaville Hotel and would not be advertised on AirBnB or VRBO, representatives said during a St. Johns Board of County Commissioners meeting last November.
The plan roiled some residents at the time who preferred the dining destination and worried that short term stay guests would strain Beachwalk’s amenities — including the lagoon.
Developers argued that the cottage plan was preferable to the alternative — another big box store.
