OKC hotelier prepares for $180 million expansion
The Journal Record
February 19, 2008

TULSA – Bell Hospitality Group LLC of Oklahoma City has lined up 20 contracts valued at $180 million to build Choice Hotels International brands across five states.That marks the first part of a master development agreement inked last month with Silver Spring, Md.-based Choice to have 50 limited-service hotels open or under development across Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, New Mexico, Louisiana and Texas by Oct. 31, 2009.

Garland Bell, chairman of Bell Hospitality, has already started preparations for three of those in the Sooner State.Bell filed plans with the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission for an 8.7-acre project involving other commercial lots for development at Riverside and Peoria. Bell’s effort focuses on construction of a 56,000-square-foot, 113-room MainStay Suites at 7000 Riverside Dr.“As soon as we can get a permit,” he said of the starting the $9 million all-steel project, a four-story midlevel extended-stay hotel. “March, April at the latest.”

Bell also is seeking permits to build a $9 million, 113-room MainStay at the southeast corner of Memorial and the Lake Hefner Parkway in Oklahoma City. He said it will be virtually identical to the Tulsa facility, both employing staffs of about 12.“It may come out before Tulsa,” he said of the Oklahoma City permitting process. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

For Lawton, Bell intends to raise a 100-room Suburban Extended Stay along the H.E. Bailey Turnpike and U.S. Highway 62. He projected starting work on that $7.8 million economy-line hotel will probably lag about 60 days behind the other two.S&T Construction of Kansas City, Mo., will supply contractor services for those three and most other Bell hotels under the contract, working from plans by Dallas architect Ike Mire, with engineering by Sack and Associates of Tulsa.

Bell expects S&T will require about one year to complete each facility.Bell said his firm is considering Owasso and a second, undisclosed site in Tulsa. The company also intends to build three more hotels in Oklahoma City. The company will tap various financing sources, he said, including private equity sources.

In Choice, the parent of Comfort Inn, Clarion, EconoLodge and several other brands, Bell has as his partner one of the world’s largest lodging companies. Choice franchises more than 5,300 hotels and 435,000 rooms across the U.S. and 40 other nations.The MainStay brand draws its market from businesses that need to house employees for a couple of weeks, said Bell. “You also get a fair amount of divorcees at extended-stay that stay a period of time,” he said.

Room rates should average $70 per night for a 550-square-foot room with kitchen, refrigerator and microwave.Bell said that sector provides strong stability, averaging 70 percent occupancy.“Extended stay has been a consistent performer,” he said. “Occupancy levels in extended stay have been over 70 percent even in recessions. It’s been the most consistent of all the hotels.”The Suburban line of limited-service, extended-stay hotels focus on high-traffic areas and highways with high visibility, he said.“They are targeted a little bit more at drive-by traffic,” he said.

Average daily room rates at the seven-employee hotels should be about $60-$62.While Bell Hospitality hopes to attract restaurants with all of its hotels, Garland Bell said the Riverside project just off the Arkansas River has drawn extra attention.“Its advantage is its proximity to the future river development, which we think will eventually get done,” he said.The site promises six pads for development across its six-and-one-half extra acres.“There’s been a lot of interest in that site, particularly from banks,” Bell said. “It will fill up rather quickly.”