Aug. 12, 2004 - Residence Inn by Marriott is building a prototype hotel near 13th and Greenwich, as part of the Plazzio development.

The 91-suite, 65,000 square-foot building will be just west of the east-side Warren movie theater.

Construction will begin this fall, and the hotel will open next summer. A.G. Holdings Construction is the hotel's developer.

The new hotel will cater to business travelers staying in Wichita for weeks or months. It will have meeting rooms, a pool, a sport court, a putting green and other amenities.

Jim Korroch, chief executive of A.G. Holdings, said the prototype is Marriott's latest design for Residence Inn, a chain started in Wichita by Jack DeBoer in 1975 and later acquired by Marriott.

Korroch will move his corporate offices to the hotel after it is complete.

Korroch, a co-founder of Candlewood Suites, became a hotel management consultant in 1999. In 2002, he began developing hotels with partners Craig and Christy Smith of Wichita, and Steve Sauder of Emporia.

The new Residence Inn is the latest piece announced for Plazzio.

The Alley Indoor Entertainment, a 62,000-square-foot bowling alley/entertainment complex, will be open by Thanksgiving weekend. The B.G. Bolton restaurant has announced it will open there next year.

The Plazzio development has nine other parcels, many of which will become restaurants.

The development also has space for a 116,000-square-foot building, but no deal has been signed yet, said Cathy Erickson, vice president of Laham Development, which is developing Plazzio.

Korroch said the entertainment and dining at Plazzio was key to his decision to build there.

"After they (business travelers) come home from working, they like to be able to go out to a restaurant or go to a movie," he said.

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