New hotel coming to Edmond
"Bed-Head Success: $5.4 million Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott to be constructed at 2nd and I-35 in Edmond.
By Pamela Grady
Champ and Hitesh Patel possess what hospitality experts characterize as having their heads in beds — a turn of phrase reserved for those within the hotel industry who achieve success.
The Patels, president and vice-president of Kajal Inn Inc., own several properties in the metro area and have interests in numerous other properties across the country, including Landmark Towers on Northwest Expressway.
In Edmond, the brothers-in-law own Best Western Edmond Inn & Suites, 2700 E. 2nd St., and they soon will break ground on a 52,000-square-foot Fairfield Inn & Suites franchise by Marriott on 2.7 acres at the corner of 2nd Street and Interstate 35.
The 90-room, three-story hotel will be the second Fairfield in the metro area. Construction is scheduled to begin in July or August, with completion scheduled for March 2006.
Tulsa-based Arc Tech Inc. with Jon Crowdus are lead architects on the project.
“The valuation of the project is approximately $5.4 million at $60,000 a unit, a unit being one room,” said Hitesh Patel. “It will employ about 15 to 20 people.”
The hotel will offer a mini market, an indoor heated pool and spa and an exercise room.
Also available will be a business center and two meeting rooms totaling approximately 1,200 square feet and allowing for a capacity of 150.
Guest rooms will feature an “entertainment wall” with a 32-inch TV and stereo/CD system, as well as “spacious, well-lit” work areas with ergonomic features.
Rooms also will have two telephones, data ports and voice mail at most locations.
In addition, some guest suites will feature teardrop-shaped whirlpools.
Hitesh Patel said one of the reasons they chose to build at the Edmond location is because Champ Patel had recently sold his 145-room Ramada Plaza Hotel at 930 E. 2nd St. in Edmond as a result of the University of Central Oklahoma dormitory project.
Hitesh Patel said they simply wanted to bring 90 rooms back to the vicinity.
The accessibility to highway traffic was another reason, he said.
“It’s closer to the highway so we have basically two markets that we can serve here by having it closer to I-35 than having it downtown,” he said. “Many people come here to Edmond.”
The general manager at Best Western Edmond Inn & Suites, Marina Stone, agrees.
“The business has picked up in this area,” she said. “There are so many different things going on. We take the overflow from Lazy-E arena when they have functions. It always heads this way. The three of us are full — the Best Western, Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express — all of the time on weekends.
“This area needs more rooms,” she said. “This is really going to make a difference.”
The Patels are still in negotiations for financing but they indicated they plan to move forward with the project this summer.
When asked about future projects, Champ Patel said he is entertaining the idea of putting a hotel in Moore in the near future, but he wouldn’t disclose his prospective location."
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