Tampa Developers building $20M Orlando hotel

Tampa-based CJP Columbia Properties LLC plans to build a $20 million Hampton Inns & Suites hotel on the campus of Orlando Health near Orlando's city core.

Construction of the hotel is expected to start by mid-2013 with a planned opening in mid-2014. No contactor has been chosen yet for the project.

The 2.3-acre hotel site is the first phase of a larger complex spanning nearly four acres that also includes plans for a 100,000-square-foot medial office building that also will be built by CJP, says Project Manager Brian Funk.

Funk explains that while the Orlando area has one of the nation's highest number of hotel rooms per capita, the city's downtown core is underserved by limited-service hotels like Hampton Inns & Suites. Orlando's downtown core has roughly 1,500 hotel rooms.

“The site was a natural for a hotel of this type,” says Jeff Meehan, a CJP partner. “It is centrally located on Columbia [Street], which is a main downtown artery that is near the city's performing arts center, the city hall, sports facilities and just a block from the new hospital on the Orlando Health campus. Because of that, the hotel will be extremely convenient for business travelers, sports enthusiasts, people interested in the arts and members of the medical community. Orlando Health serves nearly two million Florida residents and 4,500 international visitors annually.”

CJP Columbia Properties LLC is the latest venture by Charles Funk and Jeff Meehan - real estate developers and investors who have developed or managed properties worth $1.5 billion over the past 30 years.

The duo is currently constructing Seabourn Cove, the nation's largest green apartment community in Boynton Beach. The 22-acre community will contain 456 apartment homes.

Funk has developed, owned and managed more than 1 million square feet of industrial space on Florida's west coast through Carlyle Investments Inc., which he founded in 1980.

Together, Meehan and Funk head up HG Management LLC, which coordinates the construction and sale of single-family homes and apartments in unique established and water-oriented locations throughout Florida.