ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The owner of the tallest building in St. Augustine wants to turn it into a hotel.
The Treasury building is considered the city's skyscraper in downtown. It is just a couple blocks from the Bridge of Lions.
It’s seven stories and 130 feet tall. Built in 1926, it was originally built as First National Bank.
It is office space now with an event venue on the ground floor.
Its owner – hotel magnate Kanti Patel of Jalaram Hotels – wants to make it a luxury hotel with about 100 rooms.
"The tower is going to say looking the exact same," Troy Blevins noted. He is the development director for the hotel company.
The project includes big plans for the parking lot behind the building that borders Charlotte and Treasury streets.
The part of the parking lot that borders Charlotte Street is not the most picturesque part of St. Augustine, especially when there are garbage cans on the sidewalk. However, the hotel project would transform that whole area.
Buildings are planned to line the perimeter of the property where the current parking lot is now.
Those buildings would hold hotel rooms. A hidden community trash compactor would handle the garbage from surrounding businesses, getting rid of the trash cans on the side of the road.
Also, a parking garage will be built behind the newly created buildings, "so no one will be able to tell there is a parking structure there," Blevins explained.
An architect, planner and attorney for the project presented the plan to the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board earlier this month. One board member has concerns that there won’t be enough parking to accommodate staff and guests.
Blevins told First Coast News, "Well, we think it’s well over what we need and we will have parking."
The project will go before the Planning and Zoning Board again, and it still needs the final OK from the city commission.
Blevins expects it will still take five to seven years to turn this roaring 20s bank building into a hotel.