Construction of the Marriott hotel and National apartment buildings off E.E. Butler Parkway and Spring Street in Gainesville are moving along and expected to be completed by the end of August.
The 130-room Courtyard by Marriott will be completed in June and will offer visitors top-tier hotel stays with some of the best views in Gainesville, according to Chairman Jeff Payne with Capstone Property Group.
The hotel will follow some Marriott design standards; however, the development will also be unique to Gainesville and feature custom elements that pay tribute to the area, he said.
“All the lobby spaces, the dining rooms, the artwork is all custom, high-end and probably one of the nicer Courtyards in the Marriott system,” Payne said. “We have limited choices in colors that are all very typical of a Marriott you would see in any place, but the common areas of the hotel are very custom to our area.”
The artwork hanging inside the hotel's rooms is painted by Linda Dragonette, a local Gainesville artist. The lobby along E.E. Butler will house a local art gallery and common areas will feature floor to ceiling stained glass.
The exterior of the the building is also inspired by Gainesville. The architecture features wave-inspired designs and is accented with the color blue to reflect Lake Lanier, Payne said.
In conjunction with inspiration from the lake, the building's exterior also pays tribute to the old First National Bank once housed on the same grounds. The upper most portion of the building has a column-design that mimicks the look of the previous building, he said.
Both hotel and apartment buildings wrap around a plaza that will feature artificial turf and pavers. The plaza will have an area for seating, events and a two-way bistro and bar that opens to the hotel lobby and outdoor space, according to Senior Project Manager Brian Trotter with Ecker Construction.
While some residents of the National will have a view of the plaza from their balconies, others will have views of Gainesville, the Lee-Gilmer Airport and North Georgia Mountains, he said.
The 154-unit apartment building will have multiple one and two-bedroom floor plans. Those apartments will cost anywhere from $1,500 to about $3,000 a month and will feature open floor plans, walk-in closets, full size laundry units, high-end finishes and in some cases, pantry space.
The leasing office will be located on the ground floor and will act as a pass-through to the plaza. That area will also have private meeting space, an art gallery and a packaging room for its residents, Trotter said.
Certain perks will be shared between the National and Marriott, such as housekeeping services; however, both developments will share fitness and guest laundry spaces, lobby amenities and an underground parking garage.
“We’re going to have EV charging on [one] side of the [parking] facility,” Trotter said. “In addition to that, there are conversations about adding vehicle parking lifts that allow you to valet park a car on the lift, it lifts-up and you can stack a car underneath it, so it allows double the parking in just [that] area."
The total cost for both developments is around $75 million, according to Trotter and Payne.
Pre-leasing for the National will begin June 1 and construction is expected to be completed in August, they said.
