Feb. 05, 2013--The owners of the Holiday Inn Express near the Ohio State University campus have plans to build a second hotel nearby.

Sintel Hotel Group will build a $12.5 million, eight-story hotel at 3125 Olentangy River Rd., said Manav Singh, the group's director of sales and acquisitions.

"We're not releasing the franchise name yet but will in the next 30 to 45 days," he said.

The hotel will have 95 suites, while the entire top floor will be meeting space and feature floor-to-glass windows and space for groups of 75 to 100 people.

The target market will be patients from nearby Riverside Methodist Hospital and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, as well as Ohio State groups for meetings.

"If there's meeting space, that means it's not a low-end, economy hotel," said Eric Belfrage, a hotel specialist with CB Richard Ellis in Columbus. "So, it must be either a Residence Inn or Staybridge Suites."

He believes there is a market for an all-suite hotel close to campus.

"The OSU medical center is right there, so is Chemical Abstracts and Battelle and Riverside," Belfrage said. "And there's very little new supply in that market."

Singh said construction could start by the end of the year and take about a year. The new hotel will feature a full-service bar but will not have a restaurant. The room rate will be about $125 a night.

Sintel purchased the property for $235,000, Singh said, adding that the 1-acre site was in receivership. It was formerly the Platinum Auto Wash.

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