Memphis Business Journal

Construction on a new 127-room Hyatt Place has begun in Germantown at Winchester and Forest Hill-Irene.

Boca Raton-based Silver Cos. is developing the hotel and three outparcels, which will be designated for restaurants and shops to complement the hotel.

Marvin Bolinger, COO of Silver Cos., says the wetter-than-normal spring has delayed the project, which got under way this week.

"We're just getting the property ready to where we can show it," he says. "We purposely held back because of the weather. We've got several prospects, just no deal yet."

The weather pushed the completion date for the project back from spring 2009 to summer 2009, Bolinger says. When completed, the hotel will create around 40 new jobs in the area.

The finished product will be geared toward generation X and Y business travelers who are accustomed to immediate access.

The hotel will have a combination of a traditional front desk and self-check in kiosks, where guests can swipe their credit cards to get room assignments and keys. It'll also [have Starbucks specialty coffees] and 24-hour food service in the lobby. Each room will be the size of a suite and have data ports and wireless Internet access throughout.

"Today's traveler isn't a daytime traveler with an 8-to-9 work environment," Bolinger says. "This is geared to their lifestyle."

The project currently has a budget of $22 million, but Bolinger says that it will increase once the restaurant and retail components are designated.

The hotel and outparcels sit on 10 acres of land. Montgomery Martin Contractors is the project's general contractor.

Hyatt Place helps fill the area's need for hotel and meeting space, says Pat Scroggs, executive director of the Germantown Chamber of Commerce. Companies like FedEx Corp. are bringing more business and residents to the area.

"Anytime you can put numerous amenities under one roof, you enhance the possibility of larger groups coming into the area," Scroggs says. "You couldn't have a conference and a meal and stay at our existing facilities for a couple of days. The closest we've had is the Hilton."

Having a facility like the Hyatt will also accommodate visitors who come for events like the Germantown Horse Show, Germantown Festival and the soccer events at Mike Rose Soccer Complex, Scroggs says.

Silver Cos. may consider other projects in Memphis once the Hyatt Place is up and running, Bolinger says. The company has a commercial division that is currently developing projects in Alabama and Virginia.

"We have a histor that once we come to an area, we do other things like buying apartments and assisted living facilities," he says. "We're always looking at ways to develop and meet the needs of the communities we do business in."

"There's office space and some corporate business in that area, but this is the first public building being developed at that intersection, and it is a high quality product servicing Collierville and Germantown," Pinkowski says. "As the hotel an other facilities like the restaurant get developed there, it should have a favorable affect on attracting other commercial activity to that location."

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