Easing the parking problem

Jose Cordero, Cris Silva and Anothony Grizzle, with A&A Trucking and Excavating (A&A The Art of Destruction), remove a stone marker from the corner of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church prior to the razing of the venue earlier this year. [John Jernigan/Ocala Gazette file photo]

Ocala residents and guests may have a revived reason for visiting downtown: More parking.

City council members on Aug. 19 voted to approve a parking agreement for Project Hometown, granting developer Domach LLC exclusive access to 225 dedicated parking spaces in the city’s second parking garage. This move supports the development of a 176-room AC Hotel by Marriott, slated to open in late 2026 at 210 W. Silver Springs Blvd. An AC Hotel is a brand of upscale, urban-inspired hotels under the Marriott International umbrella.

The agreement designates the full uncovered sixth floor of the new six-story parking garage, which is configured to hold up to 182 vehicles using compact stacking, along with an additional 43 standard parking spots on the fifth floor.

These spaces will be restricted to permitted users such as hotel guests, employees and valet attendants via boom gates or barrier arms. A dedicated elevator in the northeast corner of the garage will primarily serve hotel patrons, with Domach reimbursing the city $108,000 for half of the estimated $216,000 construction cost, while the city covers the remaining $108,000 as an elevator incentive.

The dedicated spaces will be opened to the public on a first-come, first-served basis during major downtown events such as Light Up Ocala, the Ocala Arts Festival and the Brick City Beer & Wine Festival. The garage, built on the former Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church site, will provide more than 800 spaces total as part of an $18.5 million effort to address downtown parking demands.

This parking agreement is part of a $5,619,644 incentive package for the project, led by local businessmen Doug Cone, CEO of Cone Distributing, and Navroz Saju, CEO of HDG Hotels.

Ocala-based SSC Construction Management LLC is overseeing construction of both the hotel and garage, targeted for completion by summer 2026.

City of Ocala Planning Director Aubrey Hale provided insights into the project’s logistics, stating that the 225 parking spaces will be monitored to ensure they are only used by permitted users in a coordinated effort between the city and the developer.

“The agreement basically just establishes that we are going to have coordination between the city and the developer to monitor the permitted parking spaces. They will have gated access to their parking, and we will be monitoring that in coordination with our parking division,” Hale said.

As to public access during city events, Hale noted that, “It would be large-scale city events, so things such as the beer and wine festival, Light Up Ocala, things like that, that’s where the city would have some coordination with the developer to access the fifth floor. The top floor is a valet area, so they are going to park in a unique manner, but they would have access to the spaces that are on the fifth floor.”

Hale addressed the issue of potential parking overflow.

“We’ll have to assess at that point. I mean, because we are adding an 800-plus parking stall garage, and of that at least 500, close to 600 parking spaces. So, we already have plans in the future for a third garage, more will be coming out about that later, but we’ll continue to monitor parking,” he explained.

On the maintenance of the dedicated elevator, Hale said, “The city would still be the main person maintaining the elevator. That’ll extend to all of the personnel that work on behalf of the city as well.”

The development follows community discussions about the church site’s demolition, with the city pledging a monument to honor Mount Moriah’s legacy.

For more information, contact the Ocala Parking Division at (352) 629-8379 or [email protected].

Workers with A&A Trucking and Excavating (A&A The Art of Destruction), Anthony Grizzle, top left, José Cordero, top right, Cris Silva, bottom left, and owner Tommy Amodeo, bottom right, remove an antique stained-glass window at Mt. Moriah Missionary on Jan. 21, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]