97-year-old downtown Ocala building being renovated into 55-room hotel

One of Ocala’s oldest and tallest buildings is undergoing a complete renovation that will transform it into a 55-room hotel with historic flair and world-class amenities.

The Marion Hotel Ocala is currently undergoing renovations at 108 N Magnolia Avenue in downtown Ocala. The building that will house the hotel is undergoing extensive internal and external renovations, including the demolition of most of its interior.

The property is owned by Marion Opportunity Zone Investment, a company registered to local attorney and businessman David Midgett. According to property records, Midgett spent years acquiring the condominium units that make up the building.

Midgett will partner with ARK Hospitality, led by President Aaron Walker and COO Jeff Bailey, to create a boutique hotel as part of Hilton Hotels’ Tapestry Collection. The new hotel is being developed by Lake Mary, Florida-based Collage Design and Construction Group. The architect of record is Donahue Architecture.

The hotel has been a mainstay of Ocala’s cityscape for decades. Plans for the Marion Hotel were first drawn up in the early 1920s, after a group of local business and civic leaders determined the need for a premier hotel in the area to meet the demands of tourists and traveling sales representatives.

More than 400 miles of paved county road improvements, aggressive initiatives by the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and interest from Hollywood movie companies in Silver Springs led these leaders to hire a consulting firm to study the feasibility of hotel development.

The Pennsylvania-based consulting firm that was retained prepared a feasibility study recommending the construction of a 100-room hotel that would be funded by the community.

According to a filing with the National Register of Historic Places, a hotel committee established by the chamber formed a team of 140 volunteers to sell shares in the building to finance the project.

“Using the sales slogan ‘What Ocala Builds, Builds Ocala,’ the sales organization sold shares in units of $300 for three shares,” reads a nomination form filed with the NRHP in 1980.

In less than six weeks, the committee raised $500,000 to fund the project – $50,000 for the land and $450,000 for the hotel. Most of the inventory was purchased by local citizens.

The seven-story hotel was designed by the Virginia-based architectural firm Peebles and Ferguson and was built by Day and Zimmerman, Inc. between 1926 and 1927.

The Marion Hotel opened in March 1927 with a gala attended by more than 300 business, professional and social leaders from the county, according to the NRHP.

Records show the building was owned by the Ocala Hotel Corporation from 1965 until it was purchased by the Francis Marion Joint Venture before the summer of 1980, when the hotel was designated to be part of the NRHP. It was entered into the register on October 16, 1980.

In the 1990s, the hotel was converted into office buildings. Over the years, these buildings were all purchased by Midgett to move the project forward.

The building has become empty over the years. In October, Symmetry Coffee Company vacated its premises and moved elsewhere downtown.

During a presentation to business leaders earlier this year, ARK Hospitality’s Bailey briefly shared details of the new development.

Bailey said the restoration will be a “major part” of the building, citing a breakfast cafe with a bakery that will serve fresh pastries to guests and locals. The property’s design will retain a historic feel with modern touches.

Hilton’s Tapestry Collection hotels are billed as having their own “vibrant personality”, each with a “unique story to share that is brought to life through inspiring design and unique food and beverages”.

According to Bailey, the group hopes to open the new hotel in the third quarter of 2025. Just a few years after its opening, the hotel will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The revitalization of another property in downtown Ocala demonstrates continued investment in the heart of the city by local investors like Midgett and others.

The Forge, a new dining space that will include several restaurants, is under construction in the former WMOP radio building, a few blocks from the hotel.

In April, 18 South unveiled its new upscale bar located on the historic downtown square.

Watula South Townhomes and Lamplighter Legacy Apartments have both added to the downtown residential offerings this year, and last December, Mellow Mushroom opened a location in the new Goldman Peek building.

Built in 1891, the original building was historically known as the “Davis/Goldman Block Building” before being demolished in 2020 to make way for the current multi-story development.

Just one block from the Goldman Peek Building, District Bar and Kitchen has built a new restaurant from the ground up on the former site of Pi on Broadway.

Other projects over the years that have changed the retail landscape of downtown Ocala include Cantina Tex Mex & Tequila, which opened in late 2021, the Hilton Garden Inn, which opened in 2020, and Bank Street and Black Sheep, both of which opened in 2019.