Construction of a five-story, 126-room hotel with parking facilities and a visitor welcome center at the Havensight Mall on St. Thomas is scheduled to begin Sept. 29, the Government Employees’ Retirement System and Haven Development, LLC announced Tuesday.
Coastal Zone Management Committee members gave the project the green light at a meeting in May, subject to 16 conditions, including getting additional needed permits, erosion and sediment controls, and that developers provide details of their lighting plan.
The five-story, 126-room, 71,040-square-foot hotel will include 131 parking spaces. Stretched over two parcels in Estate Thomas, it includes in-house power production with built-in backups and redundancies, and is meant to be off-grid, project architect Jeffrey Boschulte told the committee at the May meeting. He estimated the hotel would require 125,000-kilowatt hours generated by six micro-turbines, with space for a seventh if needed.
Margaritaville and Magens Junction have similar power generation systems, Boschulte said.
The Havensight hotel — to be operated under Hilton’s Hampton brand — had been contemplated since at least 2017. Land used for the hotel is owned by the Government Employees’ Retirement System. GERS will not invest in the hotel but will lease the property to the hotel developers — a point of confusion that resulted in an ALL CAPS clarification from the retirement system in March 2022.
Haven Development, LLC and GERS — owner of the Havensight Mall — are committed to minimizing disruptions and ensuring public safety throughout the construction period, according to Tuesday’s press release.
“We appreciate the public’s patience and cooperation as we work together to ensure the successful completion of this project and expand much-needed hotel capacity for the community,” representatives of Haven Development and GERS stated.
For any inquiries or concerns related to the construction project, contact the project team at 512-484-4068.
