2 more hotels will be added to cityscape

Huntsville is in the midst of a hotel boom.

Mayor Loretta Spencer told Huntsville business leaders Thursday that construction on the 10-story, 300-room Embassy Suites hotel downtown will be so evident within the next 10 days "you'll know it's coming.''

But the Embassy Suites isn't the only hotel on Huntsville's horizon.

Spencer revealed that a Hilton Garden Inn is on tap for a tract near the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Plans show the four-story, 101-room hotel will be built behind Landry's seafood restaurant off Bob Wallace Avenue.

A third hotel is also coming: A 105-room Homewood Suites will be built in the Village of Providence development in fast-growing west Huntsville, the developer confirmed Thursday. The Hotel Group of Auburn is developing both the Hilton Garden and the Homewood Suites.

Spencer mentioned the Hilton Garden in her annual state of the city address to the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce outlining retail activity, job growth, school expansions and other projects.

Spencer said new hotel space is needed to accommodate an expected boost in business and family visits spawned by increased sports tournaments and larger conventions. The recreational activities will result, in part, from the new tennis complex and additional city soccer fields that are under construction.

The Embassy Suites, she said, will help the Von Braun Center nab bigger conventions and other events.

Much of the mayor's talk recapped events that have been in the headlines over the past year: job expansions at Toyota and Dynetics Inc., the new Huntsville High School, the planned opening of the Providence K-8 School and Columbia High School, plans to protect Redstone Arsenal from the next round of military base closings, and extensive road resurfacing projects.

Contacted Thursday after Spencer's mention of the Hilton Garden Inn project, Chris Chavis, vice president of operations for The Hotel Group of Auburn, said groundbreaking will be Nov. 16.

Chavis said the Homewood Suites groundbreaking will be early next year. Both should be open by summer or fall 2005, he said.

Joe Vallely, director of economic development for Huntsville, said the new hotels are needed.

"Huntsville is a traveling business center and we're seeing a lot more recreational tournaments," Vallely said. "It will certainly help with the inventory of available rooms.''

Chavis said Hilton Garden will offer standard rooms and a handful of suites with prices probably in the upper $90 range. A pool, spa and business center will be included. The Homewood Suites will feature extended-stay amenities such as a full-size refrigerator, range, dishwasher, laundry center, pool, outdoor recreational space and nightly dinner. Prices will probably be $100-plus nightly and less with longer stays. Chavis said the four-story, 105-room inn will fit in architecturally with Village of Providence themes. "It will not be a cookie-cutter design," he said.