A new hotel in northwest Ocala should open next Summer, joining several other commercial and residential developments under construction in the area.
Staybridge Suites is currently under construction at 4627 NW Blitchton Road. The new hotel is situated next to a new Starbucks that is nearing completion.
Staybridge Suites is situated on a parcel owned by Shelijen, LLC, a company that is registered to Navroz F. Saju, the founder and principal of Hotel Development and Management Group (HDG).
Based in Ocala, HDG Hotels has expanded its portfolio to include hotels all across the state of Florida. Currently, the company operates eight other Ocala-area hotels: Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn & Suites, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Best Western, Howard Johnson Inn, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, TownePlace Suites, Country Inn & Suites.
Staybridge Suites marks the company’s ninth project in Ocala, while the AC Hotel by Marriott, a new project planned for downtown Ocala, will be the company’s tenth in the area.
According to a deed filed with the Marion County Clerk of Courts, HDG acquired the 6.10-acre site for $1,215,800 on July 21, 2022, from Second Nine Partners, LLC. That company owns a large adjacent parcel and several lots nearby.
A site plan for the 99,094-square-foot, five-story hotel was submitted to the city of Ocala in March 2023.
When it opens next year, the 132-room, extended-stay hotel will be situated about 1.5 miles from two of the company’s other hotels (Howard Johnson, Comfort Suites – Ocala North). Both of those hotels are also located along Blitchton Road.
Staybridge Suites joins several other projects that have sprouted up in the northwest section of Ocala.
Less than a mile from the new hotel, construction of Spires 27, a new luxury apartment complex, has been progressing steadily. Ocala Preserve, a new gated community from D.R. Horton, is now selling homes.
Both communities and the commercial developments are all a few miles away from the World Equestrian Center, which opened in 2021 and forever changed the landscape of northwest Ocala. That facility recently celebrated the opening of a new on-site hospital.
