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| By Christian Hill, The News Tribune,
Tacoma, Wash.McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
Feb. 08, 2012--Two new hotels will be constructed along the Pacific Highway corridor in Lakewood. City Manager Andrew Neiditz said Monday that groundbreaking on a four-story, 109-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 101-room TownePlace Suites will begin later this year on adjacent properties. Both hotels will open in late 2013. Once the new hotels open, Pacific Highway will have four hotels built in the last six years. LaQuinta Inn and Suites and Candlewood Suites opened in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Louisiana-based InterMountain Management LLC will develop both hotels. One of the hotels will be built on the site of a mobile home park that shuttered in September, displacing 50 families. Stan Jones, the company's development director, said the corridor in Lakewood has been underserved by quality hotels. "Not only will it serve the growing population at (Joint Base Lewis-McChord)," he said in a news release, "but also the growing number of businesses in Lakewood and surrounding communities." During the last three years, the city has invested more than $18 million toward property and roadway improvements on more than two miles of the Pacific Highway corridor to make the area more attractive to businesses. In addition to the hotels, Lakewood Ford and Sound Transit have built facilities in the area. Neiditz said the new hotels represent "a major step forward for the redevelopment of that part of the city." The corridor has long been plagued by crime and blight. As these new hotels open, older ones are closing. The older hotels have provided long-term housing for low-income residents The city revoked last month the business license of the Rainier Inn after a protracted legal battle. A court-appointed receiver closed it after relocating numerous guests, most of whom had been living there beyond the 30-day limit imposed by the city. The city shut down the Gloria Inn, next door to the Rainier Inn, in July for health and safety violations. Christian Hill: 274-7390 [email protected] Twitter: @TNTchill ___ (c)2012 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) Visit The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) at www.TheNewsTribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |