Celebration Pointe envisions itself as “a Gainesville destination.”
This vision become more complete with the opening of Hotel Indigo in late October.
The hotel is truly a spot for travelers to stay and for locals to eat and enjoy entertainment.
This hotel represents Greater Gainesville – with classy décor based on the local environment and history.
The boutique hotel’s lobby features a stuffed alligator, as well as a mural showing a horse trampling an alligator, which was based off of a video of a stallion attacking a sunbathing alligator at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.
A bat-inspired bar celebrates the area’s ties to bats through the Lubee Bat Conservancy and University of Florida Bat Houses.
Each of the 140 guest rooms in the six-story hotel is decorated around a theme – with the Tom Petty room sporting a guitar and other rooms featuring bats, horses and diverse people from the community.
The Celebration Pointe development includes:
- Main Street with stores such as Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Palmetto Moon, and restaurants and shops
- Bass Pro Shops
- A 10-screen Regal Cinemas RPX theater
- Miller’s Ale House
- The Info Tech headquarters and another office building
A greenway connects Hotel Indigo with Main Street, and the hotel is a short distance away from the Archer Braid Hiking and Biking Trail that now runs through Celebration Pointe.
Hoar Construction is Celebration Pointe’s master contractor. Having one company construct most of the development’s buildings helps tie together its elements while keeping costs as low as possible, said John Goodner, director of operations for the company’s Florida division.
In keeping with the local feel, Hoar Construction incorporated car-sized boulders, unearthed during construction, into the design. Larger pieces of the stone were included in the landscaping and smaller, brick-sized pieces were used in the exterior walls, Goodner said.
Peachtree Hotel Group operates Hotel Indigo. Lee Shuman, the company’s director of project management, said the company came to Celebration Pointe because it likes to develop in areas that provide guests with many amenities to choose from.
“As much as you can provide within walking distance of the hotel is really like an additional amenity that you’re not having to purchase,” he said.
Ralph Conti, co-managing partner of Celebration Pointe Development Partners, said the Hotel Indigo brand meshes well with Celebration Pointe.
“Their hotels are experiential,” he said. “Whatever community they go into, they will go to great lengths to design their interior common spaces, and even to a large extent their suites, to the local area.”
The VUE urban townhomes project breaks ground.
Celebration Pointe has begun construction of its 86 luxury townhomes in The VUE, a gated community in the 160-acre development.
“Residents and their guests will have immediate access to first-to-market shopping, dining and entertainment,” said Ralph Conti, co-managing partner of Celebration Pointe Development Partners.
The owner-occupied homes in The VUE will range in size from 2,050-to-2,670 square feet, with upscale finishings and two-car garages.