East Bay Business Times - by Jessica Saunders
Friday, June 6, 2008
This artist’s drawing depicts the four-story, 102-room Hampton Inn being built in the historic Waterfront District.
A Petaluma developer has begun construction along the Suisun City waterfront on what will be the city's first hotel in half a century.
Basin Street Hospitality is building a 102-room Hampton Inn & Suites in the historic downtown Waterfront District, where a phased redevelopment effort is ongoing. The four-story, 63,000-square-foot hotel will be located in the district's north end, between Driftwood Drive and Lotz Way alongside the One Harbor Center office building.
The city has not had a hotel - not even a bed-and-breakfast - for decades, said Scott Corey, public information officer for Suisun City. The city's downtown was originally built along the Suisun Slough to serve railway and shipping traffic in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The last hotels from that era burned or were torn down in the 1950s, he said.
With the construction of Interstate 80 east of town in the 1960s, hotels serving motorists bypassed Suisun City for Fairfield and Cordelia, Corey said. "We got nothing. If your car breaks down and you need a place to stay, you need to have a friend."
The downtown redevelopment begun in 1989 always called for a hotel, but economic downturns in the mid-1990s and in 2000-2001 derailed prior efforts, he said. "So we are really, really excited," Corey said. "Some council members who have been on (the council) the whole time think it's a huge achievement to have a hotel under construction on our waterfront."
Basin Street Hospitality, a subsidiary of Basin Street Properties, will own and operate the hotel as a Hampton Inn franchise, said Tom Birdsall, managing partner for Basin Street Hospitality. Hampton Inn & Suites is one of the Hilton Hotels Corp. brands.
"We like all the redevelopment of the waterfront district and it's a unique thing in the area to be right on the water," he said.
The company estimated its total investment in the Suisun City hotel at more than $13 million, Birdsall said.
Basin Street's parent company has ties to Main Street West Partners Inc., the main Waterfront District developer. Main Street West co-founder Frank Marinello previously was a vice president at Basin Street Properties and maintains a strong working relationship with the company, Birdsall said. Marinello "identified there was a location for a hotel and brought Basin Street in to operate the hotel," he said.
The Hampton Inn & Suites will have a drive-up entrance, a business center, executive conference rooms, an outdoor pool and spa, high-speed Internet access and rooms with fireplaces, balconies and views of the marina and lighthouse.
Hampton Inns do not typically include restaurants. That was part of the city's plan for the Waterfront District, in hopes that hotel guests would walk to district eateries for meals, Corey said.
The hotel will be diagonally across from the Amtrak station, where the Capitol Corridor line makes its only stop in Solano County, he said.
Other ongoing developments in the district include Main Street West's 34,000-square-foot, two-story Harbor Square building, which is expected to open in September, Birdsall said.
jsaunders@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1427
