Citrus Park Crossings lands major hotel brand and acreage
By Frances McMorris
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 29, 2015

For just under $1 million he closed Dec. 16 on a 3.485 acre-parcel that will see a 128-room Marriott Courtyard built on part of the newly purchased land.

The planned hotel is part of Daye's labor of love for for the past eight years – Citrus Park Crossings, a mixed use commercial planned development near the southwest corner of Citrus Park Drive and the Veterans Expressway. The latest stage in this project, Daye bought the acreage from the Jean Carson Trust, the legacy of the former and now deceased president of the Citrus Park Civic Association. The development of the properties has been a study in perseverance and gaining people's trust for Daye. A Wisconsin native with an engineering degree and a former project manager with The Beck Group, Daye noted that Carson was especially protective of the mature oak trees in the area. In deference to her, he carved a large retention pond around one big oak tree. "Now, it looks like a bonsai,” he said. Meanwhile, Marriott has 90 percent of the construction plans for its Marriott Courtyard hotel completed at an estimated cost of $18 million on 2.055 acres. It will be the second building in the development which is entitled to 400,000 square feet, according to Daye.

Daye began working on Citrus Park Crossings in 2008, persisting through years of public hearings, obtaining zoning variances, getting financial backing and even weathering the worldwide financial downturn that battered the real estate sector. By 2013, Daye, principal of Citrus Park Investors LLC announced that he was teaming up with Ryan Companies US Inc., to build the first post-recession speculative office building in the Citrus Park area. And, through it all, Daye stuck to his vision for the development – one of urban scale in suburbia.

"We haven't been taking tenants who are rate shoppers,” Daye said. "We want tenants who believe in the growth of the area and workers live close enough to the area. We've focused on those companies.”

Indeed, that same year, the investor group announced its anchor tenant, INVEST Financial Corp., and parent company, Jackson National Life; noting that the firm would occupy about 40,000 square feet through a 10-year lease. Now, there are shower and changing facilities on the ground floor for those employees who might bike or exercise along the nearby public trail, Daye said.

Daye and his partners had to convert a dead-end street into a usable road, getting easements from private landowners along the way. "We don't tow cars and don't act like it's private,” Daye said. "We've left it very public-feeling.” But Citrus Park Lane is a private road owned by the development.

Daye also cleared out three acres and 30 years of overgrown vegetation and even some vagrants with the help of the sheriff's office.

Then there is that storm water retention pond. It provides a view for Big Cat Rescue, the non-profit organization and 67-acre sanctuary for unwanted exotic animals including approximately 100 lions, tigers, leopards and more. Howard Baskin, advisory board chairman of Big Cat Rescue, called the large oak at the center of the pond "a beautiful amenity,” adding that it "gives the retention pond a park-like atmosphere.” Visitors to Big Cat have pulled over to take a picture of the tree, Baskin said. Daye, Baskin said, "could have cut it down” but chose not to do that.

Baskin considers Daye unusual among developers citing his meticulous attention to detail, his environmentally conscious focus and the value he puts on building relationships.

"He is very patient and has a very calm demeanor that puts people at ease and earns their trust over time,” Baskin said. "He does what he says. He deals with people in a fair way instead of trying to take advantage.”

For instance, when Daye had to place a large pipe under Easy Street, he was careful to make sure the construction didn't adversely affect Big Cat Rescue. "He was great to work with when we we had to operate Easy Street around the construction,” Baskin said. "He re-routed our traffic around the pipe and he made it clear that if there were any issues to call him directly.” When a minor matter did pop up, Baskin picked up the phone and "minutes later” he said, he got a call back from the construction manager saying it had been fixed.

Currently, Daye has closed on 14 different parcels in Citrus Park, right up to Big Cat on Easy Street.

"We own the land,” Daye said. "The magic for us. Is that we can build up and build out.” Another 1.83- acre parcel is under contract, he said.

As part of the hotel project, some 75 parking spaces that the office building and the new hotel will share will be built. Marriott was the obvious choice because of its reservation and rewards system, Daye said. It will be the only Marriott on the Veterans Expressway, he noted.

"We demonstrated through the application process what's happening in Northwest Hillsborough County with the airport expansion and the Veterans Expressway widening to eight lands," Daye said. "There's great northbound growth all the way to Hernando and Citrus counties." Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) announced last November 15 that it will acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.(NYSE: HOT) in a deal valued at roughly $12.2 billion. The combination of Bethesda-based Marriott and Stamford, Connecticut-based Starwood will create the world's largest hotel company. The combined company would control more than 5,500 hotels and 1.1 million rooms around the world. Currently, Marriott has 49 hotels in Tampa and 50 in St. Petersburg.

Under Daye's plan, his Citrus Park Hotel LLC is the franchisee with Marriott and the actual hotel owner with Daye serving as hotel manager. Daye estimates that the new hotel will take about 10 months to complete and patrons will be close to Westfield Town Center mall and next to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail for jogging and biking enthusiasts.

Frances covers transportation and hospitality for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.