Hotel to be built downtown
From the Charleston Gazette
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
An Albany, N.Y.-based developer wants to build an “upscale” hotel in downtown Charleston, most likely across the street from the Charleston Town Center mall on a site now occupied by the county health department.
“We are interested in developing a hotel in the city of Charleston if the opportunity presents itself,” said Tim O’Byrne, site selection specialist with BBL Development Group in New York. “The stuff we’ve been talking about has been very preliminary.”
BBL representatives have been meeting with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, Kanawha County Commissioners Kent Carper and Dave Hardy, and Charleston Area Alliance development group leaders in recent weeks.
Jones said Wednesday that BBL was “absolutely serious” about building a hotel with about 120 rooms.
The company, which has a construction division based in Charleston called BBL-Carlton, is building a $14 million Hilton Garden Inn in Albany and a $10 million Spring Hill Suites beside Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. BBL completed a new Residence Inn in East Greenbush, N.Y., last year.
“We need upscale,” Jones said. “We don’t need another discount hotel. It would just complement all the other hotels in the area.”
The new hotel would likely compete against the Charleston Marriott and Embassy Suites in downtown Charleston.
Room rates at Hilton Garden Inns start at about $120 a night, while Spring Hill Suites’ rooms cost about $100 a night.
O’Byrne said BBL Development would have to move “further along in the process” before discussing what hotel chains might be interested in opening in downtown Charleston. He referred additional questions to Jones.
“We definitely could use another downtown hotel, especially at the mall,” Jones said.
BBL-Carlton has built dozens of projects in West Virginia, including the Appalachian Power baseball park, Charleston Newspapers’ parking garage and the Mount Olive Correctional Complex.
Earlier this year, Jones and Carper suggested moving the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and selling the property to a private developer. The health department sits across the street from the Charleston Civic Center and diagonally opposite the Town Center mall.
Jones said BBL was interested in building the hotel on that property.
Carper and Jones have said a nearby city-owned garage could be connected by bridge to a new hotel on the health department site. City officials have estimated the property could fetch about $2.6 million.
The property doesn’t generate property tax revenue now because the county owns it.
Jones said the city could offer a site owned by the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority as a new home for the health department.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
From the Charleston Gazette
By Eric Eyre
Staff writer
An Albany, N.Y.-based developer wants to build an “upscale” hotel in downtown Charleston, most likely across the street from the Charleston Town Center mall on a site now occupied by the county health department.
“We are interested in developing a hotel in the city of Charleston if the opportunity presents itself,” said Tim O’Byrne, site selection specialist with BBL Development Group in New York. “The stuff we’ve been talking about has been very preliminary.”
BBL representatives have been meeting with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones, Kanawha County Commissioners Kent Carper and Dave Hardy, and Charleston Area Alliance development group leaders in recent weeks.
Jones said Wednesday that BBL was “absolutely serious” about building a hotel with about 120 rooms.
The company, which has a construction division based in Charleston called BBL-Carlton, is building a $14 million Hilton Garden Inn in Albany and a $10 million Spring Hill Suites beside Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. BBL completed a new Residence Inn in East Greenbush, N.Y., last year.
“We need upscale,” Jones said. “We don’t need another discount hotel. It would just complement all the other hotels in the area.”
The new hotel would likely compete against the Charleston Marriott and Embassy Suites in downtown Charleston.
Room rates at Hilton Garden Inns start at about $120 a night, while Spring Hill Suites’ rooms cost about $100 a night.
O’Byrne said BBL Development would have to move “further along in the process” before discussing what hotel chains might be interested in opening in downtown Charleston. He referred additional questions to Jones.
“We definitely could use another downtown hotel, especially at the mall,” Jones said.
BBL-Carlton has built dozens of projects in West Virginia, including the Appalachian Power baseball park, Charleston Newspapers’ parking garage and the Mount Olive Correctional Complex.
Earlier this year, Jones and Carper suggested moving the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and selling the property to a private developer. The health department sits across the street from the Charleston Civic Center and diagonally opposite the Town Center mall.
Jones said BBL was interested in building the hotel on that property.
Carper and Jones have said a nearby city-owned garage could be connected by bridge to a new hotel on the health department site. City officials have estimated the property could fetch about $2.6 million.
The property doesn’t generate property tax revenue now because the county owns it.
Jones said the city could offer a site owned by the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority as a new home for the health department.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
posted by Charleston West Virginia Economic Development
@ 9:31 AM
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