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Separate development groups are dusting off plans for a pair of new hotel projects after securing construction financing, one in Bloomington and another in downtown Minneapolis.
In Bloomington, two Ohio developers have obtained a $16.25 million construction loan for a 170-room, five-story Cambria Hotel & Suites that was first pitched in 2015. The developers plan to build the new hotel at 8001 28th Ave. S. in Bloomington, a vacant four-acre site about a half mile northeast of the Mall of America, according to county records.
Plans for the project also call for a hotel restaurant, banquet space, and another 7,400-square-foot restaurant and coffee shop that will be a separate space but attached to the hotel.
The loan documents were signed last month by executives of two companies on the development team, The Orlean Company and Ceres Development, both based in the Cleveland area. The address of the lender goes to the office of OZ Management LP, an asset management fund based in New York City.
Consolidated Construction of Appleton, Wisconsin is listed as the general contractor, according to Bloomington City Planner Mike Centinario, and work could begin on the hotel project this summer, though plan revisions are still underway.
In August 2015, Cambria’s parent company, Rockville, MD-based Choice Hotels, announced that it had signed a franchise agreement with Orlean and Ceres to develop a 160-room Cambria hotel at the site. At the time, the parties anticipated an opening date in 2017.
Representatives for the two companies deferred comment until a later date.
While there are a number of active proposals to build Cambria hotels in Minnesota, at present only one is open, at 9655 Grove Circle N. in Maple Grove that opened in 2009.
More Hotel Development Downtown
More hotel development activity is occurring in downtown Minneapolis where an entity related to JR Hospitality and Iowa-based Hawkeye Hotels landed a $24 million construction loan of its own from Minneapolis-based Bremer Bank for a twin-hotel project at 317 Second Ave. S. The eight-story structure, known as the William E. McGee Building, is 118 years old and connected to the downtown skyway.
The two companies originally disclosed plans last fall to convert the vacant office building into a 201-room, dual-branded Hilton Tru and Home2 Suites hotel. In December 2017, the city of Minneapolis’ Planning Commission approved the plan, which includes a 41,300-square-foot, eight-story addition.
In January 2018, the partners bought the property from Willmar, MN-based TPI Hospitality for $5.7 million. TPI had acquired the site for $4.2 million in March 2015 with the intention of turning it into a Holiday Inn & Express, according to a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal story written at the time of the sale.
With financing in hand, Hawkeye and JR will now be able to break ground.
“We’ll probably start construction in the next sixty days and finish in early fall,” said Jay Bhakta, managing partner of JR Hospitality. At that rate, Bhakta expects an opening in early 2019.
