AmeriTel wants 2nd Olympia hotel
12.08.2006, 20:30
AmeriTel Inns Inc., which already operates a hotel here, has filed preliminary plans with city officials to build a Hampton Inn and Suites at 4301 Martin Way E., Olympia.
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Representatives of AmeriTel will meet with city officials next Wednesday to discuss their proposal, according to AmeriTel Vice President Brad Charles.
Wednesday's meeting, known as a presubmission conference, gives developers the option to meet with city planners to learn more about the requirements for large development projects.
Once they have learned more about city building requirements, developers can use that information to help formulate land-use applications.
As the proposal stands now, AmeriTel wants to build a five-story hotel with more than 100 rooms, an indoor pool and a 1,500-square-foot meeting room.
Hampton Inn and Suites is a hotel brand operated by the Hilton hotel company, but it would be run here as a franchise for AmeriTel, Charles said.
Construction of the hotel, estimated to cost between $6.5 million to $7 million, could begin next fall, though if it appears land-use approval is going to become a time-consuming process, it might not happen, he said.
The company is hoping to avoid the drawn-out approval process it encountered when the AmeriTel Inn at 4520 Martin Way East was built six years ago.
Before it opened, it took two years to secure a city building permit after the project was appealed multiple times under the state Environmental Policy Act.
Nevertheless, the existing AmeriTel Inn has been a "solid performer," Charles said.
For the current hotel proposal, it should take about six months to get a building permit, he estimated.
"That's probably optimistic, but I would think that's doable," he said.
Hotel developer interest in Olympia does not surprise Tamara Garcia, executive director of the Olympia Lacey Tumwater Visitor & Convention Bureau.
She gets half a dozen calls a year from companies and consultants asking about Olympia's hotel market.
"Olympia and the region must be poised high on the radar for these development companies," she said.
Mill Creek-based developer Peter Frame also wants to bring a new hotel to Olympia.
"Quality hotels in the area are experiencing strong occupancy," said Frame, who is trying to co-develop a strip of property off Interstate 5 at Henderson Boulevard known as Henderson Park.
Frame's group has decided against a Marriott Hotel for the site, but it still has plans for some kind of hotel there.