Jul. 3--LITTLETON -- Less than a year after tech giant IBM said it would consolidate 2,000 software employees at a campus straddling the Westford-Littleton line, a Needham developer is planning a $15 million hotel aimed to serve business travelers.

The Hilton Homewood Suites will have 112 units with 120 bedrooms, according to plans submitted to the Planning Board. It would stand four stories tall.

It would also be the first brand-name hotel in the town, said Maren Toohill, Littleton's town planning administrator and permit coordinator.

Waterford Development Corp. hopes permits are in place by the end of the year so construction can begin in January or February 2009, executive vice president Bob Shapiro said yesterday. The hotel would then open the following year.

He said IBM's decision to relocate 2,000 jobs to Littleton convinced Waterford to build the hotel.

About 85 percent of revenue from hotels such as Homewood Suites is generated through business travelers who stay an average of four nights, Shapiro said.

In addition to IBM's plans, other triggers were Cisco Systems' 1,500-employee campus in nearby Boxboro, as well as new economic activity in Devens, he said.

"There is all kinds of business moving in there and Hilton isn't represented in that market," Shapiro said. "If you look at other products around it, it really is a very good location. There isn't a lot between Route 2 and Marlboro."

Waterford's representatives met with the

Planning Board last week and are scheduled to meet again on July 10 to discuss special permits required.

"It was very well received by the Planning Board," Toohill said.

The project needs a combination of local, state and federal permits for everything from storing toxic cleaning materials to stormwater discharge and the hotel's height.

The developer already worked out arrangements with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program for a conservation and management permit to work around the Blanding's Turtle which is considered a threatened species in Massachusetts.

"Having gotten through that process, it made the design fit very well into the Littleton regulations," Toohill said.

The hotel needs its own wastewater treatment facility to handle about 13,200 gallons of sewage flow daily because the town does not have a sewer line.

Hilton Homewood would be expected to generate about 549 daily vehicle trips in or out of the property, located on Monarch Drive off Taylor Street. It will sit on a 3.5 acres of a 20-acre site, most of which is not suitable for development.

The overall cost is $15 million, including land purchase and "soft costs" such as design work, Shapiro said. Construction costs are budgeted for $9 million.

Waterford's partner is S&S Hotels, which owns Hilton and Marriott facilities throughout New England. It recently sold the Residence Inn in Westford, Shapiro said.

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