Blue Jays hotel developer secures $14M financing deal

A development group behind the planned Dunedin hotel for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team has landed new financing. 

Tampa-based Spirides Hotel Finance Company, which provides mortgages and loans to hotel owners and developers, announced it has provided $14 million in construction-to-permanent mortgage financing for the new hotel. 

Local developer and general contractor Doug Anderson, who heads Coastal ICF Construction Services Inc., is leading the hotel development. The desire for a hotel created for the players follows the Blue Jays organization recently opening its $120 million Player Development Center (PDC) in Dunedin.

The 115,000-square-foot center was part of the Blue Jays’ 2017 renewal contract with the city. Under the contract, the team committed to staying in Dunedin for another 25 years.

The Blue Jays organization has described the hotel as being “the last piece” needed for its players, as it would provide consolidated quality housing for rotating major and minor league players. 

“They [developers] have a blank canvas, so this will be the best dormitory/hotel in all of professional baseball,” Charlie Wilson, General Manager of Minor League Operations for the Blue Jays, stated during a previous city meeting.

City of Dunedin officials were the first to introduce Toronto Blue Jays officials to Anderson regarding the hotel, according to Spirides’ news release. 

The new hotel will feature two buildings at 491 and 469 Causeway Blvd., totaling 90 guestrooms with balconies. It will be open to the public at certain times of the year, city officials said previously.

Each building will be outfitted with furnishings, security and technology as well as standard amenities such as a swimming pool, meeting rooms, dining areas, a laundry and a fitness center. Parking will be on the ground floor with two stories of lodging accommodations situated above.

The development entails two phases: Phase 1, which kicked off last year, is the construction of the smaller of the two locations, known as Grant Street Inn. Phase 2, which will now get underway, will be comprised of 68 units located on Causeway Boulevard and will be known as the J Hotel. 

The buildings will feature a coastal design scheme and will be 100% solar powered. 

The development team includes Dunedin-based SDG Architecture, as the project architect and designer, and Strand Hospitality Services of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina will manage the daily operations of the hotel.

Spirides noted in the news release that taxpayer money was not used to pay for this hotel development project.

A timeline was not stated in the release; however, Anderson previously said he will need to deliver the hotel to the team by 2023.