By Tony Burchyns
Posted: 10/01/2009
The Holiday Inn Express on E. Fifth Street is Benicia is set to open in November. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
BENICIA -- The tourism push here continues with a Holiday Inn Express set to open next month as the city prepares to hire a marketing consultant, city officials and the hotel developer said this week.
The 48-room hotel on East Fifth Street is nearing completion after about 18 months of construction that was interrupted by funding-related work stoppages, developer Hiten Suraj of San Mateo-based Suraj Investment Group LLC said.
"It's been a long time coming," Suraj said of the 2004-approved project. "The hotel industry has been affected severely with this downturn in the economy."
The franchise hotel -- Benicia's first since Best Western opened in 1988 -- will generate an estimated $84,000 in annual hotel taxes, City Manager Jim Erickson said. There's also a requirement for the project to sustain 10 full-time jobs, Economic Development Manager Amalia Lorentz added.
With the city poised to hire a tourism-marketing firm later this month, Erickson called the hotel's impending arrival "great news."
"From a tourism standpoint, (it will provide) additional places for people to stay," Erickson said.
The city has allocated $280,000 for a 20-month marketing contract that has attracted competing bids. The City Council may award the contract later this month.
Like the Best Western on East Second Street, the Holiday Inn Express -- which also will be close to Interstate 780 -- will offer wireless Internet access and a breakfast area for guests. Other features will include flat screen TVs in all rooms and conference facilities. Rooms will range from $89 to $119 a night, the developer said.
"We are targeting every niche in the market ... leisure, corporate, as well as the industrial workforce," the Suraj said.
The project is one of three being built near East Fifth Street and I-780: A medical office and Big-O Tires store also are under construction.
"It's part of the improvements in the east part of the city," Erickson said.
The hotel's address will be 1375 East Fifth St., near N Street. It will have two floors, reaching a height of 40 feet. Semi-underground parking will be included. Final design approval was granted five years ago, and the developer since has taken his time with all aspects of the project, Benicia planner Damon Golubics said.
Contact staff writer Tony Burchyns at tburchyns@thnewsnet.com or call (707) 553-6831.
