The long-shuttered Ramada by Wyndham on Baymeadows Road may soon shift from hosting road-weary travelers to housing long-term residents, as a national nonprofit advances plans to convert the aging hotel into affordable apartments for U.S. military veterans.
Tunnel to Towers Foundation has applied for an administrative deviation and a zoning exception that will send the proposal to the Jacksonville Planning Commission on Thursday, Feb. 19. The plan calls for converting the four‑story, 146‑room hotel at 9150 Baymeadows Road into permanent apartments with on‑site supportive services. Neighbors and city officials will weigh in on whether a busy Southside hotel can be reborn as veteran housing.
According to the Jax Daily Record, Tunnel to Towers’ zoning‑exception filing proposes about 145 apartments out of the 146‑unit hotel and lays out a first floor with libraries, lounges, dining areas, a gym and a workforce redevelopment center. The application notes the property covers two parcels totaling roughly 5.18 acres and that the building dates to 1974. The filing states the foundation plans an eight‑figure renovation and is targeting a summer 2026 construction start, with completion in late 2027 if the city signs off. The paper also reports the property is owned by The Knights 18 Baymeadows LLC and that online reservations were not being accepted at the time of the filing.
Tunnel to Towers’ pitch and experience
“This is not a shelter. This is not a transitional site,” Gavin Naples, senior vice president for the foundation’s homeless veteran program, told the Jax Daily Record. The group is framing the Baymeadows proposal as permanent supportive housing, with on‑site case management and job services intended to help residents stabilize rather than cycle through short‑term placements.
According to the Tunnel to Towers website, the foundation has committed more than $1 billion to programs for veterans and first‑responder families and has pursued similar hotel‑conversion projects in other parts of the country.
Who owns the site and what comes next
State corporate filings list The Knights 18 Baymeadows LLC as the entity tied to the Baymeadows address, with records identifying Shmuel (Sam) Bonnardel among the company’s managers, according to the Florida Division of Corporations. The property continues to be marketed under the Ramada by Wyndham name at 9150 Baymeadows Road.
Approvals, timeline and local context
The Tunnel to Towers application requests an administrative deviation and a zoning exception, approvals that city planning staff and the Jacksonville Planning Commission must review before the foundation can close on the property and start work. The City of Jacksonville explains that administrative deviations go through a public hearing before a zoning administrator, while exceptions and variances are decided by the Planning Commission.
If commissioners give the green light, Tunnel to Towers plans to proceed with the purchase and the renovation schedule laid out in its filing. The Baymeadows proposal joins a broader push to convert underused hotel properties into permanent housing for veterans, a model supporters argue speeds up delivery and concentrates key services on one site.
