July 19–DAYTONA BEACH — Vertical construction has begun on the hotel that is expected to be the centerpiece of the One Daytona mixed-use development going up across the street from Daytona International Speedway.

The seven-story 145-room Marriott Autograph Collection hotel will include retail shops and a restaurant on the ground floor, and a restaurant/bar on the second floor with an outdoor patio complete with a large television screen overlooking One Daytona's Victory Circle, the central gathering place for the development.

"It's going to be huge," Plato Ghinos, president of Shaner Hotels, said of the large outdoor television screen, which he said will be visible to those on the street below. "It's going to be similar to (the large outdoor video screen at) Times Square."

The hotel, which will be called The Daytona, "will definitely compete (in quality) with the top hotels in the (Daytona Beach area) market," added Ghinos, whose company will operate the lodge. The goal is to open The Daytona by the end of 2018.

Shaner will also be the operator of the 105-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott hotel that is nearing completion at One Daytona, just north of the International Motorsports Center office building where NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. have their headquarters.

The four-story Fairfield Inn will employ more than 30 workers and is expected to open in November, possibly before Black Friday, Ghinos said. An exact date has not yet been announced.

"Everything appears to be on schedule for a November opening," he said. "We'll have a soft opening with a more grand opening (later) in conjunction with the whole (One Daytona) complex."

ISC, which owns the Speedway across the street, is the developer of One Daytona, with the exception of the two hotels and a 276-unit apartment community that are being developed by South Florida-based Prime Hospitality Group.

Two tenants at One Daytona have already opened: the 12-screen Cobb Daytona Luxury Theatres movie complex that opened last December and the Bass Pro Shops outdoor gear-and-apparel store that opened in February.

The rest of the planned 300,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space at One Daytona, with the exception of the shops and restaurant on the floor below The Daytona hotel, are on track to open in this year's fourth quarter, said Kelly Dispennette, ISC's senior director of corporate development management.

ISC's fiscal fourth quarter ends Nov. 30.

Announced tenants for One Daytona set to open this fall include P.F. Chang's, Oklahoma Joe's BBQ, Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, MidiCi: The Neapolitan Pizza Co., Built Custom Burgers, Ben & Jerry's, IT'SUGAR, Jeremiah's Italian Ice, Guitar Center, GameTime, an entertainment venue that will include a bowling alley, Kasa Living, Clair de Lune, Pink Narcissus, Sprint, Lindbergh and Designers Market, and Venetian Nail Spa. The retail tenants set to open next year below The Daytona hotel include Tervis, Kilwins Confections, Sunglass World and Hy's Toggery.

Dispennette said ISC is in talks with potential tenants to fill the remaining 4,500 square foot space on the street-level floor below The Daytona. That space will likely be filled by a restaurant, she said.

A hiring event for the Fairfield Inn will be held in either September or October, Ghinos said.

The Daytona will include nearly 10,000 square feet of meeting space as well as an outdoor pool and poolside cabanas.

The Fairfield Inn will offer 2,000 square feet of meeting space as well as a 24/7 market, a pool, fitness center, business center and flexible work spaces.

Both hotels are being designed to evoke the area's rich heritage as well as the history of racing in Daytona Beach, Ghinos said. The cost to build the two hotels is expected to exceed $50 million combined, he said.