Dec. 04—Another proposed project soon could add to a recent hotel boom in and around Duluth’s Miller Hill commercial corridor.
On Tuesday, members of the Duluth Planning Commission will consider plans for a four-story 98-room hotel at the southeast corner of Central Entrance and Blackman Avenue.
Northridge Construction Inc. of Grand Forks, N.D., is the would-be developer and aims to operate the property under the Staybridge Suites franchise flag, a division of the Intercontinental Hotels Group. Each of the units inside the extended-stay hotel would feature a fully equipped kitchen.
The proposed hotel would feature an indoor pool, a hot tub and a public “commons” area guests may use to socialize.
In a letter to the Planning Commission, Brett Carlson, Northridge’s development director, said the company’s interest “stems from the economic potential within the market and the ability to share the opportunities the area has to offer with our future guests.”
Northridge already operates six hotels, including Sleep Inn & Suites in the North Dakota cities of Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Devils Lake; and Comfort Inns in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Dickinson, N.D. The company also is in the process of launching two more new hotels in Rochester, Minn., and Lincoln, Neb.
Access to the hotel would be provided off Clearwood Drive, on the south side of Central Entrance. The hotel would have 100 parking stalls with no more than half of the spaces fronting Central Entrance.
The proposed site for the hotel is properly zoned as mixed use-commercial. But because of the project’s size, a plan review is required.
If the review proves successful, staff recommends the Planning Commission attach certain conditions to any approval, including the review of lighting, landscaping and storm water management plans. City Planner Steven Robertson also noted that some new public infrastructure will need to be installed to handle runoff from the site into Brewery Creek on the other side of Clearwood Drive.
Other hotel developments also are sprouting up in the Miller Hill area. In August, plans were approved for a four-story, 91-room Hampton Inn & Suites behind the Texas Roadhouse restaurant off Mall Drive. Meanwhile, an $8 million La Quinta Inn & Suites Hotel is under construction at 1805 Maple Grove Road.
Other hotels already operating in the area include a Residence Inn by Marriott, a Days Inn, a Fairfield Inn, an Econo Lodge and a Country Inn & Suites.
Brett Carlson, a company spokesman, declined comment until the Planning Commission meeting.