Boise to get new Hilton Garden business hotel

Plans for a business-traveler-oriented Hilton hotel south of the Boise Spectrum entertainment center, near Overland and Cole roads, have been submitted to the Boise Planning and Zoning Commission.
The $5 million to $6-million project is slated to open spring of 2002, project architect and developer representative Byron Lee Smith said.
B&A Development, owned by AmeriTel Inn Inc. principals Glen and Peggy Black, submitted plans for the 137-room Hilton Garden Inn.
The 3.5-acre site is on the south side of Spectrum Street about halfway between Entertainment Avenue and Cole Road, east of the six-building Spectrum View office complex being developed by Spectrum developer Hawkins-Smith Co.
The four-story inn is to comprise 88,000 square feet. The first floor will take up 29,435 square feet and the other floors will cover 19,510 square feet each. Smith said it is hoped that construction will start in May.
The inn is to include a pool, exercise room, conference rooms, laundry areas and a business center. The design features a “Pavilion” that includes a dining area for breakfast and retail space. Rooms include fast Internet access.
“It’s primarily for business travelers – someone like a Hewlett-Packard Co. person or a Micron person … someone who’s travelling who wants nicer accommodations than a Motel 6,” Smith said.
The location, he said, offers a 10-minute drive to Micron Technology Inc. or downtown. It’s also within walking distance of several restaurants and the 21-screen Edwards Cinema complex at Spectrum.
The Hilton Garden Inn would be near a 133-room AmeriTel Inn, at the southwest corner of Overland and Cole roads.
Bruce Black of AmeriTel Inn – Glen and Peggy Black’s son – said the site of the Hilton Garden Inn is too close for another AmeriTel.
But “if there’s going to be a competitor there, it had just as well be us … Since it’s not an AmeriTel, hopefully there is enough difference between us and them that that we won’t be direct competitors,” he said.
Hilton Garden hotels typically have a restaurant, unlike AmeriTel hotels, and room rates are at higher price points, Black said.
However, “the Boise market is more expensive than other markets we’re in, so we may already be close to their price point,” he said.
Boise-based AmeriTel operates seven Idaho hotels including one near the Boise Towne Square mall. It has proposed a hotel in north of Interstate 84 off Eagle Road in Meridian. AmeriTel also owns hotels in Olympia, and in Elko, Nev.
Ken Benoit, Hawkins-Smith leasing director,. said: “We have had significant additional hotel inquiries on property around the Spectrum” including proposals to add a deluxe, extended-stay hotel.
It made sense to approach AmeriTel, the existing hotel occupant at Spectrum, Benoit said.
Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. has more than 90 Hilton Garden Inns in North America.
“There isn’t one anywhere in town, and that brings a lot,” said Black.
The Hilton Garden Inn proposed in Boise would employ approximately 30.
Hilton Hotels Corp. develops, owns, manages or franchises approximately 2,000 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties, a company statement said.
Brands include Hilton, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Harrison Conference Centers, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Co., Homewood Suites by Hilton, and Red Lion Hotels & Inns.