RALEIGH -- A Raleigh developer has proposed a hotel on city-owned land downtown, an addition that would bring much-needed hotel rooms to the arts and cultural district, supporters of the plan say.
Summit Hospitality Group told the city it has secured tentative financing for the project, envisioned as a Residence Inn on Salisbury Street across from the Raleigh Convention Center. The company must submit a formal proposal to the city.
Before the economic downturn, Empire Properties reached a deal to turn the vacant site into The Lafayette, a mix of offices, condominiums and hotel rooms.
But the plan was scrapped after efforts to obtain a loan rubbed up against development deadlines imposed by the city.
Since then, downtown advocates have preached the need for more hotel rooms to make the convention center more conducive to large conferences and events.
The current supply of 1,000 rooms is not enough, says David Diaz, CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. An additional 500 to 700 rooms are needed, advocates have said.
"There's nothing like cranes to really signal to the market that Raleigh is growing again," Diaz said today at a meeting of the City Council's Budget and Economic Development Committee.
"It's been three years since this site has been looked at," he said. "It's just sitting there, not generating any tax dollars."
The city should get written guarantees to ensure the hotel is developed in a high-quality manner, said council members Thomas Crowder and Russ Stephenson, architects known for their emphasis on design.
Don't let the opportunity pass by, said council member Eugene Weeks.
"Now is the time for us to move forward so we can get some of the business that's going to other cities because of the lack of rooms (in downtown)," Weeks said.
Several proposed hotel projects were delayed or canceled because of a lack of financing amid the sluggish economy. But the market is showing signs of a rebound.
When it opens late this year, a 126-room Hampton Inn & Suites will be the first new hotel in the downtown area since the Marriott opened along Fayetteville Street in July 2008.
The Hampton isn't the only hotel in the pipeline. N.C. State University announced plans last fall for a 125-room hotel on
Hillsborough Street across from the school's bell tower.
The project, which will replace Sadlack's Heroes and a retail center that is home to Schoolkids Records, does not yet have a hotel brand.
At the Salisbury Street site, Summit Hospitality says a hotel would be the main tenant in the building. Details on additional tenants were not immediately available. The development would be similar in size and scope to a Residence Inn near Bank of America Stadium in
Charlotte, company president Doyle Parrish told city officials in a memo.
Summit would move forward with a market study and design work as soon as an agreement is reached with the city, Parrish wrote.
A major hotel project would catch the attention of other developers, Diaz said today. "We'd love to see multiple hotels in downtown, not just at this site."
