Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
A new hotel and a possible new manufacturing and distribution facility are among anticipated developments at Longleaf Business Park, located on US 27 two miles south of SR 60 in Lake Wales.
Maryland-based Sunset Hotel Group develops and manages a variety of hotels under different "flags." They are currently negotiating with several to determine the best fit for their recently-acquired property in Lake Wales.
Maryland-based Sunset Hotel Group recently completed the purchase from the Lake Wales Community Development Agency of a two-acre parcel at the park for $297,600. Maricruz Gutierrez of Saunders Real Estate arranged the deal.
Officials with SHG told Lake Wales News.net that they are deeply engaged in due diligence negotiations with several hotel chains, including IHG and Hilton, to determine the best possible match for their project.
"We measure four times and cut it once," said SHG Chief Operating Officer King Patel, adding that they had also received a call from Marriott regarding their new extended-stay product which may also offer potential.
Once a "flag" is chosen, company officials expect the design process to take two to four months before any permit applications would be filed.
SHG already owns a portfolio of hotel properties, which Patel said are constructed or purchased for their own management company. "We don't build and flip," he said. Included in that portfolio is the Candlewood Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor, an IHG Hotel that the company developed using Historic Preservation Tax Credits, creating a 102 suite extended-stay facility.
Other chain hotels owned and managed by SHG include Hampton Inn, Staybridge Suites, Townplace Suites by Marriott, Candlewood Suites, and others. The new hotel will be the first the company has constructed in Florida.
"Lake Wales needs another hotel," Patel said, citing the area's 8,000 active building permits and growing demand. The city, he said, "is on a good path." It's also inland, and thus "more secure from bad weather," he added.
Gutierrez has also arranged a contract for the sale of lots 2,3,4 & 6 at the business park to Abuland, LLC, a subsidiary of Uni-K, a Chile-based manufacturer of windows, but the company is not prepared to issue a statement, she said.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor Hotel is a flagship property of Sunset Hotel Group, which transformed a historic property into a luxury suites hotel. Sunset now plans to add a new hotel at Longlead Business Park in Lake Wales. The facility will be the first Florida hotel in their portfolio.
The new hotel will contain no more than 110 guest rooms and is expected to include a meeting room that will accommodate up to 100 persons. It will not include a restaurant but will offer a breakfast buffet, Patel said. It will rise on the property just south of the Kegel manufacturing facility, which was mentioned by Patel as one likely source of room demand.
"Kegel has people who need extended stay (rooms) for two to three weeks," Patel said, citing additional demand from athletic teams and reunion groups which would enhance casual travelers on the major highway.
The negotiations with the major hotel chains are important because both sides research the impact on hotels in their chains, according to Patel.
"They want to make sure we would not be stealing business from the same reservation system," he said, referring to possible "overflow" from the existing Hampton Inn on US 27 only four miles to the north, which is part of the Hilton reservation system. They also measure how many room nights might be turned away due to full occupancy, Patel added.
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