Jacksonville's City Center offered a social and tour of the newly renovated Carling Apartments. Tours of the award-winning historic building were given by Chris Kaye, project manager and Amy Dunkley, intern interior designer, both former employees at PQH Architects and Carling design team members.
The dilapidated condition of the structure prior to the design and construction required the design team to spend countless hours researching, aquiring, and analyzing old documents and photographs in an effort to recapture the full elegance and character of the Carling and its once intimate relationship with the populous of Jacksonville.
The Carling Hotel, built in 1926 and later renamed the Roosevelt in 1936, is one of the only two hotels remaining in Downtown Jacksonville that was constructed during the Florida boom of the 1920's. The renovation into a mixed use residential / commercial / retail center was completed in 2005 and is the second major renovation in downtown Jacksonville by the Vestcor Companies Inc.
The new residential tower includes 99 residential apartments boasting one and two bedrooms, 15,000 square feet of retail space and a 250 space parking garage.
We had over 50 participants tour the facility. Chris and Amy led several small groups through the grand lobby, mezzanine club facilities, arcade and retail / commercial areas while others socialized, played a game of pool, ate, drank, or relaxed on one of the many plush sofas.
Thanks to our sponsors, The Bierman Group and Holmes and Brakel who sponsored wine and hors d’oeuvres. We were thrilled to have such a great turnout of architects, designers and manufacturer representatives. We hope to see you at our next tour! Let us know if you have any suggestions or projects that you’d like us to tour.
Tour Guides Chris Kaye and Amy Dunkley 
