St. Augustine's Treasury building, seen here from the Bridge of Lions, is the tallest in the historic downtown's skyline, standing six-stories tall. | Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today
Published on February 25, 2026 at 10:58 am
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The tallest building in downtown St. Augustine, the Treasury on the Plaza, is one step closer to becoming a hotel.
Along with more than 100 rooms, the development plans call for a new parking garage in downtown St. Augustine and beautifying nearby streets.
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Located at 24 Cathedral Place, the building first opened in 1927 as First National Bank of St. Augustine. These days, the space houses an event venue, office space and various ground-level shops.
The proposal to turn the Treasury into a hotel has been in the works for several years. Hotelier Kanti Patel bought the building for $10 million in 2018 under the company Kasam Hospitality.
Having come before various city boards for feedback and tweaks, the plan finally made its way to St. Augustine’s City Commission on Monday night.
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City leaders gave the project its first approval, but the requested rezoning to turn the bank building into a hotel must be approved on its second reading to move closer to construction.
Transforming the Treasury
If it’s approved by the City Commission next month, the new downtown hotel will have 120 rooms. To accommodate guests, the project includes plans to build a 155-space parking garage within the property. The parking garage would be surrounded by hotel rooms to hide it from public view.
Development plans also call for:
- Fixing up the century-old building
- Building out venue space, restaurants, a lounge and a spa
- Fixing up streets along the hotel property
The hotel’s owners also plan to bring in a trash compactor, which the hotel as well as other nearby downtown businesses will be able to use in service of eliminating nearby trash bins that clutter up the street.
Members of the team working on the hotel project also told city leaders about plans to institute a bike share program to encourage hotel guests to take vehicles other than cars, and plans to use construction methods that would mitigate vibrations that could damage nearby historic buildings.
St. Augustine’s elected leadership shared positive feedback for the project, even though several members of the City Commission acknowledged it isn’t perfect.
Commissioner Jim Springfield said he was happy to see that the Treasury building would be fixed up at the expense of someone other than the city, but he still said he was disappointed to see office space leaving the city’s historic downtown.
“That’s one thing I wish we were able to keep some of,” Springfield said, “but it didn’t work out in the plan.”
When the project comes back to the St. Augustine City Commission for its second reading, members of the public will have the opportunity to provide public input. That meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. March 23 in the Alcazar Room at St. Augustine City Hall, 75 King Street.
The meeting will also be broadcast live on the city’s website.
