Construction is in its final months at SpringHill Suites by Marriott, a $20 million, 135-room hotel in the Stabler Corporate Center in Upper Saucon Township.
High Hotels Ltd., an affiliate of High Real Estate Group LLC in Lancaster, is developing the 85,000-square-foot, five-story hotel, its first in the Greater Lehigh Valley and 15th overall.
“We are in the final stages of finishing out the hotel; the plan is to open in mid-December,” said Russell Urban, president of High Hotels Inc.
Workers are completing the landscaping and paving over the next two weeks. Next, they will install wallpaper and carpeting and bring in furniture, he added.
Last summer, officials broke ground on the site, a vacant patch of land in the corporate office center next to Strayer University and the Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba law firm near the Route 309/Interstate 78 interchange.
Urban said SpringHill Suites will be among the newest hotels to open in the Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton market, along with the Homewood Suites, another hotel under construction off Center Valley Parkway. HMB Management of Upper Macungie Township is developing Homewood Suites.
“It’s the definition of a brand new hotel market,” Urban said.
High Hotels is also looking to build a standalone restaurant next to the hotel. That project is a year or two away from construction, he said.
The hotel will have limited food options and a bar, while the restaurant would serve a wider group of businesses and residents.
While the property is not zoned for restaurant use, if the company secures a restaurant user, it would pursue that permit, Urban said.
“My hope would be that it wouldn’t take a lot to get it approved,” he said. “We are talking to several right now. For sure, it would be a full-service restaurant.”
A privately held company, High Hotels Ltd. is a subsidiary of High Construction, which is building SpringHill Suites as the general contractor. Greenfield Architects Ltd., another affiliate of the company, is the architect for the project. Rettew Associates of Lancaster, which has an office in Allentown, was the civil engineer.
Integrity Bank, a division of S&T Bank, was the lending partner.
The hotel will include separate living and kitchen areas in each room, a business center, fitness center, pool and free Wi-Fi, among other amenities.
