Hampton Inn opens, but 2nd hotel on hold

Westgate developer to resume in spring

8/12/2014
BY JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER
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    New Hampton Inn on Secor Road is open, while work on a Holiday Inn Express will begin in March.

    THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH
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  • New Hampton Inn on Secor Road is now open.
    New Hampton Inn on Secor Road is now open.

    Toledo’s newest hotel, the 108-room Hampton Inn & Suites Toledo/​Westgate, has officially opened for business, but it appears as though it will take longer than expected for its companion, a 92-room Holiday Inn Express, to take shape.

    “We won’t start on [the Holiday Inn Express] until the beginning of March of next year. We have the financing in place and we’re doing the the sidewalks for it already and other parts, but actual construction won’t be getting done until March,” said Steve Roumaya, a partner with Key Hotel and Property Management of Toledo, which is developing the hotels site.

    Original plans for the $25 million redevelopment of the former Showcase Cinemas site at 3500 Secor Rd. called for construction of the two hotels, plus three to five other smaller retailers.

    New Hampton Inn on Secor Road is open, while work on a Holiday Inn Express will begin in March.
    New Hampton Inn on Secor Road is open, while work on a Holiday Inn Express will begin in March.

    Key broke ground on the Hampton Inn in April, 2013, and it had intended to start work on the Holiday Inn late last year. But the exceptionally harsh winter delayed plans to begin construction on the second hotel.

    “We had a very hard winter last year. We spent almost $70,000 alone just for propane” to heat the construction site, Mr. Roumaya said.

    Key Hotel officials had hoped to get the Holiday Inn started in the spring and have the Hampton Inn open by July 4, but Mr. Roumaya said “something came up” late that extended work on the first hotel for another month.

    The Hampton Inn finally opened Thursday and will have a grand opening next month. But officials felt that with August already a week old it had become too late to start major construction on the second hotel.

    Mr. Roumaya said if construction began now workers would be in the middle of the project when winter arrives. Like the Hampton Inn, the Holiday Inn Express will be a four-story hotel.

    Development plans call for the second hotel to be adjacent to the Hampton Inn on the property’s north side. Retail andr restaurant space will be in front of the hotels.

    Mr. Roumaya said developers are getting close to settling on tenants for the rest of the project.

    Earlier, developers were trying to gain a commitment with Cheddar’s Casual Cafe, an Irving, Texas, restaurant chain. But negotiations fizzled.

    Mr. Roumaya said now developers are moving away from doing a “a big sitdown restaurant” and are negotiating with other prospective tenants, including a sports bar.

    Joe Swolsky, a commercial real estate agent with RL West Properties, is handling the marketing of the 13-acre site, and said the project “is probably about 45 days away from announcing who will be the remaining tenants for the rest of the property.”

    Mr. Swolsky confirmed that a deal with Cheddar’s is dead.

    “Cheddar’s is out, but we have something that is much, much better. It’ll be very exciting once we’re able to announce it,” he said.

    Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.