Meetings, Lodging Boom Reshapes Cleveland Skyline
<B> Meetings, Lodging Boom Reshapes Cleveland Skyline</B>
By Frank Rosci
In response to Cleveland's growing appeal as a meetings and business travel destination, eight new hotels are being planned for the city's downtown district, bringing an additional 1,700 rooms for a total of 4,600.
The hotels and other developments, including a new convention center, are part of Civic Vision 2000 and Beyond, a comprehensive plan to reshape Cleveland as a premier American city for the new millennium, said David Nolan, president of the Greater Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau.
"This type of development is a natural result of the billions of dollars being invested in Cleveland's renaissance," said Glen Shumate, the CVB's vice president of tourism development. "Business travel demand in all markets has grown, which supports the development."
The two properties that already have opened are the $13 million, 194-room Hampton Inn and the $11 million, 165-room Radisson Hotel at Gateway.
A 144-room Marriott Residence Inn, part of a $30 million renovation of the Historic Colonial and Euclid Arcades, is slated to open in October. Also opening this fall will be a 141-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites. The $11 million, 15-story property will be a moderately priced, limited service hotel.
Next to debut will be a 329-room Club Hotel by Doubletree at Courthouse Towers. The hotel will be the chain's first urban location in Cleveland, in the city's Historic Warehouse District.
Coming in the spring of 2000 will be a 252-room, $29 million, limited service Courtyard by Marriott Jacobs Field.
In the summer of 2000, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, a hospital group, plans to begin construction of two Inter-Continental hotels. The first, a 160-room property, is set for completion in August 2000, and when that is completed, the existing 278-room Omni International Hotel will be leveled to make room for the second Inter-Continental, a 291-room property with a 500-seat conference center. The latter is scheduled to open by April 2001.
A 250-room Hyatt Regency has been proposed for Cleveland's historic downtown Arcade, the nation's first enclosed shopping mall, built in 1890. The $12 million hotel is part of a $52 million renovation plan that includes 62,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. Pending final city government approval in late April, construction may begin this year, with completion expected in late 2000. Hyatt currently has no properties in Northeast Ohio.
Also scheduled for completion in 2000 are a 230-room, 11-story Hilton Garden Inn and a 200-room Red Roof Inn. The $16 million Hilton, which will be located near Jacobs Field, will feature an entrance pavilion with an 8,000-sq.-ft. restaurant/lounge, an indoor swimming pool and a courtyard. Business travelers will find guest-rooms outfitted with two-line telephones, voice mail, dataports and ergonomically designed chairs. Rooms will average between $75 and $95 per night.
Meanwhile in Cleveland's suburbs, 675 rooms in another eight new hotels--Town Place Suites (86 rooms), Courtyard by Marriott Independence (154 rooms), Residence Inn Beachwood (174 rooms), Hampton Inn (98 rooms), Delta Corporate Suites (66 extended stay rooms in three locations), and Hampton Inn & Suites (97 rooms)--were added last year, Shumate said. In all, suburban hotel development is expected to add 2,444 rooms in 21 new hotels, including three at Cleveland Airport, by the end of 2000. The Cleveland metropolitan area then will have 20,000 hotel rooms.
In other news affecting business travel and meetings, plans are in the works to build a new convention center with 350,000 to 450,000 square feet of exhibit space in downtown Cleveland. Several sites now are under consideration.