Next June, True North will open its first Element Hotel – a new extended stay Starwood brand that combines eco-consciousness with urban residential design – near the Miami International Airport. Developer Norwich Partners of Lebanon, N.H., also developed a True North-managed 108-suite Residence Inn by Marriott in Burlington-Colchester, Vt., that opened earlier this year. 
 
True North will also open a new Hilton Garden Inn next fall in Devens, Mass.; is converting a Milwaukee hotel to a new 160-room Courtyard by Marriott (opening spring 2011); and is also developing a new Hampton Inn in Tucson, that will open in 2012.
 
“We’re encouraged by the uptick in development activity over the next 12-24 months,” said Lew Wiens, president of True North Hotel Group, who credited a solid portfolio of properties and hotel managers for holding their own during the economic downturn. 
 
Wiens announced that Marjorie Dansel, who first joined True North in 1999 and served as general manager of the company’s former Fairfield Inn by Marriott in that city, is general manager of the new 91-room Hays hotel, described by parent brand Holiday Inn as “the most modern hotel in the area.”  Located halfway between Denver and Kansas City, the new Holiday Inn Express and Suites will cater to sports tournament groups and stop-over driving travelers. The Hays hotel was developed by Ferguson Properties of Liberty, Mo.   
 
True North Hotel Group (www.truenorthhotels.com), co-founded in 1998 by Lew Wiens and owned by True North Family Trust and Richard Merkel, manages and develops major-brand extended stay and select service hotels throughout the U.S.