Jan. 04, 2012--Two new Marriott-branded hotels that will operate within a single building are slated to sprout near San Jose airport, executives with Barry Swenson Builder said Tuesday.

The project will add a total of 321 rooms to the South Bay hotel market sometime during the first half of 2014.

"It will be one hotel, but two different flags," said Scott Connelly, development project manager for San Jose-based Barry Swenson.

The eight-story building will be constructed on a vacant lot at the southwest corner of North First Street and Skyport Drive. One of the Marriott hotels will be a 175-room Residence Inn and the other a 146-room SpringHill Suites. Guests will come in through a common entrance but then find two distinctly different lobbies.

"The hotels will share the same 'back of the house' -- the same laundry, maintenance, breakfast operations," said Mike Black, senior development manager for Barry Swenson. The hotel complex also will have a garage and ground-level pool.

"To get hotel financing these days, you have to be creative," Black said. "You have to be extremely creative unless you are doing an all-cash deal."

"It's great that this site is now committed to a hotel," said Nanci Klein, deputy director for San Jose's Economic Development Office. "We're getting inquiries about a few more hotel sites in the airport area."

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

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