TITUSVILLE, FLA.—Visitors to Florida’s Space Coast can now enjoy stays at a new hotel that features a rooftop bar and restaurant, resort-style pool and other amenities in a convenient location closest to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, including its launch pads and adjacent visitor complex.
The five-floor Courtyard Titusville Kennedy Space Center, developed and operated by global hospitality and entertainment company Delaware North, opened in April.
Amenities for Leisure & Business Travelers
The hotel is quickly becoming popular for both aerospace workers and families and other leisure tourists.
It features 152 rooms, including 14 extended and one-bedroom guest suites and eight ground floor walkout rooms, four of which have firepits. Each room is decorated with space-themed items and graphics, including large wall murals of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Rooms also feature floor-to-ceiling windows.
The large outdoor resort-style pool has a children’s section, hot tub, cabanas, and a bar. Other features include a 700-square-foot meeting room, 2,200 total square feet of indoor and outdoor patio/lawn/tent event space, patio fire pits and Adirondack seating clusters, a spacious fitness center overlooking the Indian River, charging stations for electric cars and access to walking and biking trails along the shoreline.
The exterior of the hotel features color-shifting exterior tiles that change from blue to fuchsia depending on the angle of sunlight. Sustainability was a focus in developing the hotel, including stormwater treatment before discharge to the Indian River, tankless water heaters, low flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting with turn-off sensors for when spaces are unoccupied and large windows for increased natural light.
“We intentionally partnered with Marriott on this project, the gold standard for hotels and hospitality,” said Scott Socha, Group President for Delaware North’s parks and resorts division. “We wanted to build a hotel that is welcoming to families and leisure travelers to the Space Coast but also has the amenities needed to support the business travelers to the thriving space companies that are critical to this local economy.”
Proximity to Space Coast Attractions
The hotel in Titusville is just off State Route 405 on the Indian River, part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It’s only 40 miles from Orlando International Airport, and Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1 interchanges are close by. Nearby attractions include The American Police Hall of Fame and Museum across the street and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral National Seashore only minutes away.
But most prominent is the hotel’s proximity to Kennedy Space Center (7 miles) and Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (6.5 miles), which Delaware North operates for NASA. The hotel is the closest to the space center’s launch pads, Launch Complexes 39A and 39B.
Increased interest and activity in the space program prompted Delaware North to undertake the hotel project. The visitor complex this month is also launching a new two-day ticket to reflect the addition of programming and major attractions over the last decade, including Heroes & Legends, featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, presented by Boeing; Planet Play; Space Shuttle Atlantis; and the new Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex, which opens June 15. Another major part of admission is the Kennedy Space Center Bus Tour with a stop at the Apollo/Saturn V Center.
“We’re hopeful the hotel will help travelers enjoy longer visits to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as a convenient and desirable accommodation just down the road,” Socha said. “We’re proud to have worked with NASA to add many memorable and educational attractions to the visitor complex in the last decade. There is more than a day’s worth to see and experience there.”
Bistro Restaurant & The Space Bar
The ground-floor Bistro in the spacious hotel lobby features a bar and outdoor seating and serves full breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus as well as Starbucks products.
The signature feature is the rooftop deck housing The Space Bar, which offers an elevated evening experience and views. It can be accessed via an express elevator in the lobby.
“The Space Bar provides a unique dining and entertainment setting for local residents and visitors to the Space Coast,” said Wayne Soard, General Manager of the hotel for Delaware North. “If offers once-in-a-lifetime views of rocket launches and a fun night out in a cool setting for corporate and association retreats, government meetings, weddings and other group events.”
Up to 250 guests can enjoy traditional table service, bar seating and casual lounge areas. Space-themed décor, including a large mural showing an Apollo moon landing, sets a cosmic ambiance for diners, and a retractable awning provides partially covered seating around the bar.
Delaware North is serving a broad menu of casual but chef-driven fare at The Space Bar, including salads, bowls, sandwiches, specialty desserts and space-inspired cocktails. Overseeing the culinary direction of The Space Bar and the hotel is Executive Chef Chris Chadwick, who has more than 20 years of experience in the premium hospitality sector. Chadwick, who most recently served as Executive Chef at The Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in Atlanta, is focused on using local ingredients to bring forth a distinctive Florida-Caribbean flavor for diners.
The Space Bar’s full menu, along with additional information, can be found at www.spacebarusa.com. Semiprivate catered events—such as corporate happy hours, holiday parties and rehearsal dinners—can also be booked in The Space Bar and other event spaces in the hotel.
The hotel is the first in Florida for Delaware North, which operates lodging properties across the United States and Australia. Delaware North also operates restaurants in hotels, national parks, airports, sports and entertainment complexes and commercial and cultural districts across the country, including at Disney World in Orlando through its Patina Restaurant Group.
