Hyatt and HI Express break ground for two major hotels on Vilano Beach

Historic City News was notified by Vilano Beach Main Street, Inc. that Project Manager Farid Ashdji will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hyatt Place and Holiday Inn Express in front of the properties located at 140 Vilano Road and 125 Vilano Road at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16, 2019.

Vilano Beach and other local dignitaries, St Johns County officials, Vilano Beach Main Street leaders and Historic City News readers welcome attendees at this celebration of the Town Center economic development milestone.

“The new construction will support many new jobs during the building process and will generate a large number of ongoing jobs in support of 170 new hotel rooms in Vilano Beach,” reported Sallie O’Hara, Executive Director for the accredited Main Street Community, “Vilano Beach Main Street, Inc.”.  “After several years of planning, design and permitting, the hotels will include mixed-use retail shops and restaurants for the public and other amenities for large and small conferences and special events.”

Opening of the Hyatt Place, in the Art Deco Style, is planned for 2020 and the Holiday Inn Express, in a Florida Vernacular Style, will open in late 2019. Additional projects by other property owners are in the works for the approximatly one-quarter of vacant land remaining in the 23-acre Vilano Beach Town Center.

Vilano Beach Town Center is a walkable half mile area between two waterfronts with a unique sense of place, located two miles over the Intracoastal Waterway from St. Augustine. Vilano Beach became a Waterfronts Florida Community in 1999, a Florida Main Street Community in 2003, and was recently designated as a Florida Trail Town.

Continuous coordination between the citizens and government has allowed this public-private partnership to thrive for over 20 years, O’Hara told Historic City News editor Michael Gold who grew up only a block away on Ferrol Road.