Lew Wiens, president, announced that True North Hotel Group will co-develop, own and manage a 120-suite SpringHill Suites, opening in the fall of 2004, on 25-acre Devens Commons, Mass., that is being developed by Robert Walker of Devens Development, LLC.  The parcel will also include a 17,000 square-foot conference center, connected to SpringHill Suites via skywalk, that can accommodate 500 people.  Offices, retail and restaurant will round out the balance of the parcel.

Devens Commons is part of Devens, a 4,400-acre master planned community in Central Massachusetts on the Nashua River that is the former site of Fort Devens Army Base.  Devens, an award-winning national model for military base re-use, is a project of MassDevelopment (www.massdevelopment.com), the economic development arm of the State of Massachusetts.

"SpringHill Suites is the right fit for this innovative development," said Wiens, whose partner Walker was awarded the management contract through an RFP process.  "Devens Commons was looking for a quality hotel, and SpringHill Suites fits that bill."

Meg Delorier, vice president of community relations for MassDevelopment, said, "Devens Commons is the largest development for Devens to date, and our community of 75 companies and residents are very excited that the new hotel will be a Marriott."

Another unique land-use development in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. will result in the late-summer 2004 opening of a four-story, 128-suites Residence Inn by Marriott, under construction, that is sharing a six-acre parcel with Spakenkill Plaza, a new retail and restaurant strip located at the entrance of the IBM plant on Rt. 9 at Spakenkill Road.  True North Hotel Group owns and will manage the new hotel.

Located in the Hudson Valley near Vassar, Bard and Marist Colleges, Westpoint, and the Culinary Institute of America, the Residence Inn will be the only hotel on the IBM campus and the first all-suite hotel in the area.

"Between IBM, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Westpoint, parents of students and cadets, and weekend visitors to the Hudson Valley, we believe this all-suite Residence Inn will satisfy a huge demand for both business and leisure travelers," said Wiens.

In Lebanon, N.H., a 114-suite Residence Inn formerly managed by InnAlpha Management, former affiliate of the True North Hotel Group, is now fully managed by True North, which participated in the recent addition of 24 rooms.

True North Hotel Group, a hotel development and management company based in Overland Park, Kan., owns or manages 1,333 hotel rooms in six states under the Marriott, Hilton, Cendant and Choice brands.