Plans in early stages for a Hilton or Marriott hotel chain to locate at major Lawrence intersection

You know something is going well when an industry built upon free breakfast bars and self-serve biscuits and gravy is flocking to your community. Yes, Lawrence is experiencing a hotel boom, and it appears to be continuing. I’ve learned plans are in the early stages for a new hotel to be built on the site of the old Ramada Inn near Sixth and Iowa streets.

Nav Patel, a principal with Kansas City-based Marquee Hospitality, has confirmed that his group has purchased the former Ramada Inn site at 2222 W. Sixth Street. If you don’t remember the Ramada, you evidently didn’t partake in my wedding buffet in 1999. (To clarify, the reception was at the TeePee Junction but we had Ramada truck the food in. Now do you remember?) Regardless, the site is just north and west of the Sixth and Iowa intersection, and more recently housed Rodeway Inn and a Howard Johnson.

Patel said plans haven’t yet been finalized, but he expects the new hotel to have 90 to 100 rooms. He said the group primarily is focusing on bringing either a Hilton or Marriott brand to the location.

“We want to put a nicer hotel in Lawrence,” Patel said. “We think there is good demand there. It is a good intersection. You make one turn and you go to the university, or you turn the other way and you go to downtown.”

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Both Hilton and Marriott operate a variety of hotel brands that aren’t currently in Lawrence. Some of the more common ones are Hilton Garden, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Embassy Suites, Courtyard by Marriott, and Residence Inn by Marriott. And, don’t forget, Marriott operates the Ritz-Carlton chain and Hilton operates the Waldorf Astoria brand. Unless I have a cracker in hand, however, I’m not planning on putting on the Ritz anytime soon. The hotel brand I’ve heard mentioned with the site is a Fairfield Inn by Marriott, but there’s no confirmation with that.

Patel did confirm that his group has begun having conversations with City Hall about the project. He said he hopes to have plans submitted for the property in the next few months and to have construction underway by the middle of next year.

Marquee Hospitality operates about eight hotels, Patel said, with a couple in Kansas City and few in the Washington, D.C. area.

Lawrence has been an active place for hotel construction in recent years. First there was the The Oread hotel built near the KU campus, then the Marriott TownePlace at Ninth and New Hampshire, and then a Comfort Inn on McDonald Drive near the Kansas Turnpike. Most recently, the former Holiday Inn on McDonald Drive is undergoing a major renovation as it plans to become a DoubleTree by Hilton in the coming months.

One thing that will be interesting to watch with the former Ramada site is whether the new hotel seeks to have any conference space. Patel didn’t provide any details on that front, but he said several things that made it clear the firm is trying to gauge how much conference business can be had in Lawrence.


In other news and notes from around town:

• This one slipped under my radar, but The Oread hotel landed on a nice list last month. The hotel was ranked as the No. 22 best college hotel by the website College Rank, which provides information to students and parents on college choices. The Bluemont Hotel in Manhattan was ranked No. 11 on the list. The No. 1 college hotel is the Washington Duke Inn, which has three restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, a AAA four-diamond rating, but does have one drawback that seemingly can’t be overcome. It is at Duke University.

• Some readers have asked for an update on what the new construction is next to the Comfort Inn at McDonald Drive and Princeton Boulevard. As we have reported, that’s set to be a small warehouse complex. Plans filed in September showed four buildings on the site, ranging from about 17,000 square feet to 3,100 square feet. Lawrence-based architect Paul Werner previously told me that the space will accommodate, in part, some businesses that are part of Lawrence’s Fritzel construction entities, such as a cabinet shop, a rock business and other types of construction firms. I suspect some of the warehouse space also could be available for overflow storage for industrial firms that are in the area. It is always possible the plans have changed a bit, and if I hear anything new, I’ll let you know.


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