TownePlace Suites planning $7.5M hotel on North Woodbine Road
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Plans are in motion for the development of a new $7.5 million TownePlace Suites hotel at 1401 N. Woodbine Road.
TownePlace Suites, a Marriott-operated hotel brand, is eyeing a four-story building with 129 rooms, a breakfast area, a fitness area, an indoor pool and an outdoor patio.
The hotel would be located on a 4.7-acre plot of land next to Stoney Creek Hotel. The land is currently owned by Altira St. Joe Hotel LLC.
“We've received plans on that project. Once permitted … you'll see development occur quickly on that one,” said Clint Thompson, St. Joseph's director of planning and community development. “The project, based on the current time frame, would be able to be finished prior to end of this calendar year.”
The St. Joseph City Council will hear a bill for first reading on Monday to accept $9,778 from TownePlace Suites for a portion of future development costs, including building plan review services from the city's consultant GBA. Additional permit fees collected by the city will provide the funds needed to fully compensate GBA for the services it performs in connection with the new hotel project.
TownePlace Suites has more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, including several in Kansas City.
Christian Mengel, director of Marketing and Communications with the St. Joseph Convention and Visitor's Bureau, said 129 new hotels rooms would infuse millions in revenue into the local economy.
“To put in perspective, last year (the tourism industry) was a $237 million industry just in Buchanan County,” Mengel said. "Growth is absolutely necessary for hotel rooms in St. Joseph. The tourism industry is growing, and it has consistently year over year."
The hotel marks the latest bid to improve St. Joseph's lagging hotel landscape, which recently saw the addition of a My Place Hotel on North Village Drive. A Hilton-affiliated hotel is also in the works for an area behind the YMCA nearby.
Hotels rooms, which were already a growing need in St. Joseph, have become an even greater priority over time as facilities like the Ramada Inn, America's Value Inn and the Downtown hotel -- among others -- have closed down.
With approximately 900 hotel rooms across St. Joseph, the city is still 600 short of where it has been in previous years. An infusion of 380 new rooms -- 129 from the Woodbine Marriott hotel and potentially 249 from two new boutique hotels and convention center on Frederick Avenue -- would go a long way in improving St. Joseph's shortage.
“It's absolutely going in the right direction. It's starting to feel like boxes are actually getting checked off by more rooms here, more rooms here,” Mengel said. "That last thing that would really bring it home is if we do get something Downtown."
Despite a failed deal last year to build a new Downtown hotel due to financing shortfalls with hotel developer HDDA, Thompson confirmed that the city is actively working to attract and market property for a hotel in Downtown St. Joseph.
“You look at Joplin, a smaller size community with 20,000 less people and they have, you know, 1500 to 2000 hotel rooms. We have a shortage in the market. We have a high demand occupancy rate that leads the state. So I think we have room to grow still," Thompson said.
