Developer shows off plans for hotel that will connect to VBC

Friday, May 28, 2004

By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer jpeck@htimes.com

Huntsville's future convention hotel has a face.

Hotel developer John Q. Hammons and Mayor Loretta Spencer planned a news conference this morning to unveil the architect's rendering of the 300-room Embassy Suites hotel.

The $40 million hotel will be next to the Von Braun Center and overlook a new canal jutting off Big Spring lagoon.

A climate-controlled "skywalk'' will bridge the hotel with the VBC's South Hall.

Hammons, founder and chief executive of John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc., said Thursday by phone from his Springfield, Mo., headquarters that he's looking forward to doing business in Huntsville. In his nearly five decades in the hotel business, Hammons has developed 150 hotels in 40 states under banners that include Marriott, Sheraton, Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn.

"I know all about your town. I didn't go into this blindly,'' Hammons, 85, said about the city's convention and tourism market. "We're finishing final plans and specs and will try to be under construction in early July.''

Completion will be in about a year and a half, he said. That's a couple of months later than city officials had hoped. "I would say we'll be open by the 15th of January in 2006,'' Hammons said.

The Huntsville hotel will be Hammons' second Embassy Suites in Alabama - the other is in Montgomery - and his 20th nationwide.

Spencer said she's pleased with the progress of preparing the hotel site.

The development deal calls for major city improvements, including building the canal, relocating a utility substation, realigning the Monroe Street-Williams Avenue intersection, building a major new connector road off Memorial Parkway, and doing drainage work.

The city is building the parking lot for the hotel, but Hammons is repaying the debt on it. The 350-slot lot includes underground and surface parking.

Spencer said Hammons agreed to every design change the city sought, including helping pay for renovations for the VBC's South Hall and reconfiguring the parking lot to leave more open areas next to Big Spring International Park.

"The working relationship has been tremendously exciting,'' she said. Spencer said the project seems to be ginning up new convention business. Scouts have already been booking bigger downtown events in anticipation of the new hotel, she said.

"This puts us on the map (for bigger conventions) with 500 rooms right in proximity of the civic center,'' Spencer said. A 288-room Hilton is across the street from the VBC.

Hammons announced plans for the downtown hotel in July. The development deal was approved months later by the City Council.

Since then, the local lodging tax has been increased twice and is now 13 cents on the dollar, plus a $1-a-night surcharge per room. A 1 percent city levy was earmarked for city recreational projects. The Legislature recently added 1 percent for renovations to the Saturn V rocket at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Hammons said Thursday that while he dislikes any lodging tax increases, he doesn't view the recent boosts as a threat to business. Hammons said previously that rooms at the Embassy Suites probably would cost $119 to $130 per night. Under the current tax rate here, that would place the total tab at $135 to $148.

Hammons also said he didn't see a problem with having a public park run through the hotel site. The canal, with its landscaping and sidewalks, will be considered an extension of Big Spring Park. About 140 feet will separate the hotel from the VBC, with the waterway threading between them. The 1,100-foot canal will connect Big Spring lagoon with Pinhook Creek on the other side of the hotel site.

"It's tight, but we're having to live with it,'' Hammons said.

Spencer wanted a hotel ribbon-cutting in fall 2005 as part of the city's 200th anniversary celebration. Huntsville was incorporated in July 1805. Spencer said she still hopes to meet that target if the weather cooperates.

A Tulsa, Okla., company will be the lead contractor on the hotel. Hammons said that bids will be solicited for subcontractors and that work typically goes to local firms.

"We realized the importance of the Huntsville market years ago, and it's still important and can be successful," he said. "We're bringing to Huntsville something it hasn't had - lots of available space for large groups.''

Gov. Bob Riley, while visiting Huntsville Thursday, also predicted the new hotel will boost Huntsville's economy.

"I know how hard your city officials worked to secure this. I can't see it being anything but a tremendous asset for the area,'' he said.

Riley, who took office in January 2003, reaffirmed a commitment from the previous administration for the multimillion-dollar downtown connector road. Officials say the segment is still under design and probably won't be ready before the hotel opens.