Tru by Hilton hotels coming to Mandarin, St. Johns County

By Karen Brune Mathis & Scott Sailer, Staff Writers

Two Tru by Hilton hotels are on their way to Mandarin and St. Johns County.

Those are two of the five hotels that the brand intends to open in the area. The first opened at the Town Center Promenade and two are envisioned in Arlington and near Jacksonville International Airport.

The Mandarin project is described as a 106-room hotel along Hartley Road at Interstate 295, and the St. Johns County project is an 82-room property near the St. Augustine Premium Outlets.

In Mandarin, the city approved permit applications to demolish two office buildings at 2960 and 2970 Hartley Road owned by Stellar Futures LLC.

Permit information shows J.B. Coxwell Contracting Inc. is the contractor to demolish a two-story, 5,500-square-foot building and a two-story, 25,000-square-foot building at a cost of $170,000.

Property records show the buildings were developed in 1985 and 1987.

The 106-room, four-story, 44,719-square-foot Tru by Hilton will be developed on 2.06 acres.

JEA issued a letter of utility service availability to the project agent, Matthews Design Group of St. Augustine. The city calculated a mobility fee of $104,178 to mitigate the project’s traffic impact.

The Tru Hotel Mandarin site is planned on property owned by affiliates of Stellar, a Jacksonville-based global design, engineering, construction and mechanical services company.

Stellar is headquartered nearby in more than 80,000 square feet of office space on about 4 acres at 2900 Hartley Road.

In St. Johns County, the Growth Management Services Department intends to hold a preapplication meeting with project representatives for a four-story, 82-room hotel on 1.22 vacant acres at County Road 208, west of I-95.

The property owner is Ambama Investment LLC, led by manager Ameet Patel.

Patel owns the adjacent Best Western hotel on 2.35 acres.

The civil engineer is Baker Design Build.

Plans show 43 king, 32 double queen, four accessible king and three accessible queen rooms.

A Tru by Hilton representative said in January that the brand opened its first area hotel, with 98 rooms, in Town Center Promenade; will start development on one at Merrill Road and Southside Connector; plans hotels in Mandarin and near Jacksonville International Airport; and wants to open in St. Augustine.

Tru by Hilton says it was developed using consumer and owner feedback and focuses on a cross-generational appeal by offering a “new, affordable hotel experience.”

By: Daily Record Staff
From: Jaxdailyrecord