Signs of change are coming to the entrance of the Railroad Square Art Park with the construction of a new Hyatt House hotel.

West Virginia-based developer Mountain Shore Properties is building a five-story hotel influenced by the art district's industrial, quirky style. The extended stay version of the hospitality chain will occupy about an acre on the park's south side now occupied by a sculpture garden and green space.

The development also includes a 6,000-square-foot, standalone building for retail space.

"They have gone above and beyond to keep the character of Railroad Square while still satisfying the uniformity needs of their flag, which is Hyatt,” said Adam Boynton Kaye, who co-owns the 10-acre art park with his sister, Lily Boynton Kaye.

Kaye admits his initial trepidation when he was first approached. Mountain Shore, which owns nine hotels in the Southeast, also built the Hampton Inn Hotel near the art park that debuted last March. The Hyatt project represents the first time the developer has built two hotels in the same city.

After much negotiation, Kaye said he was surprised at Mountain Shore's response to their terms, including parking for the public and guaranteed access to the park during construction.

"We don’t want our tenants to suffer more than they have to," he said. "Construction is never easy.”

It will be a drastic change to the lumberyard-turned art district on the northern edge of the Florida A&M campus.

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It's where the weird and wonderful collide and throngs of art lovers visit galleries on First Fridays. It's where college students unwind and gather for classes at Feeling Art and local thespians inspire and entertain at the Mickee Faust Club. It's where the hungry munch on hot hoagies from the Crum Box Gastgarden stationed in an engine red caboose.

Yet Carla Reid is worried.

The owner of the Black Dog on the Square believes the newcomer will erode the park's eclectic character. She's got a gnawing feeling her business will not survive the lengthy construction phase, which is slated to last until January 2021.

"We’ll see what happens,” she said. "I’m riding my business until I can’t ride anymore. I’ll probably be closed by the summer."

The Black Dog operates its flagship location at Lake Ella. The Railroad Square shop opened four years ago and just started turning a profit.

"(The owners) are doing what is best for them and that’s what’s to be expected," Reid said. "I’m not getting my knickers in a wad. I’m not getting upset about it. I’m just looking at reality.”

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Seventy tenants lease space at Railroad Square, Kaye said. They operate at varying times of the week or season. Over time, some tenants have struggled to pay rent and were offered a month-to-month lease in case they had to part ways from the park.

Kaye is hoping the park and its art-centric appeal will interest hotel guests and prompt them to patronize nearby businesses. He said tourists often purchase art on vacation as "it memorializes an experience they have had."

Given the development of Gaines Street over the past half a dozen years, change was bound to come to Railroad Avenue. In the early 1940s, Railroad Square was a lumberyard and, after ownership changed hands, became a place to showcase art with the opening of the 621 Gallery in 1981. Today, it's an industrial hodgepodge of businesses where vendors sell their one-of-a-kind wares, trinkets, furnishings, jewelry and clothes.

Dingy Gaines Street now is a trendy district with boutiques, shops, restaurants, coffee shops and hotels. Across the train tracks from Railroad Square, FAMU Way has been widened and extended into a tree-lined boulevard boasting a linear park. From there, walkers can stroll the Capital Cascades Trail to Cascades Park, a centerpiece of cultural and community activities.

"The city of Tallahassee welcomes the opportunity to be a destination city," said City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox.

She wants to keep an eye on the balance between responsible development and its impact on residents and small businesses.

"I would encourage anyone who has a concern to reach out to us and see if there’s a way to make it work,” Williams-Cox said.

City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow has had a front-row seat to the evolution of Gaines Street. He co-owns Gaines Street Pies and the Wilbury, a bar and entertainment venue on Gaines Street. He said he hasn't heard rumblings of concern from neighboring businesses about the hotel, which would be the third one for the Gaines Street District.

But, for businesses impacted by construction, he said, "That's a tough position to be in."

"It’s transformed," Matlow said of the Gaines Street area in the last five years. "Any time you have redevelopment like that, you always have a give and a take."

He encouraged the developer and Railroad Square owners to listen to concerns and make sure they're doing everything possible not to displace businesses.

Lead architect Paul Lague, a principal at LLW Architects in Memphis, Tennessee, is taking an industrial touch to the Hyatt project that plays off the park's World War II roots.

Tallahassee-based Architects Lewis + Whitlock have been hired to offer advice on the project, said Stephen Wendell, a managing principal at Mountain Shore Properties.

"Make no mistake about it, we are building commercial projects that are branded. We are not trying to pretend we are not," he said. "But when they are done properly and done more thoughtfully ... guests will appreciate them more in the long run when they stay with you. We don’t want to put something somewhere and it looks out of place."

Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter.