Sept. 12–Seven shovels broke ground late Monday morning, signifying the beginning of the newest hotel to come to Duncan. Apollo Hospitality is building a Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites near two of their other properties, Holiday Inn Express and Applebee's.
Mitesh and Pratima Patel along with representatives from the city, the contractors and the bank broke ground at the new site which will be an 80 room hotel costing approximately $9m.
Chris Deal, Duncan Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, started the short ceremony with a few words.
"It's a great day for us because of their continued faith and investment in our community, they have been really great partners in helping to build our retail community as well," Deal said. "It you ever need advocates for the community — Mitesh and Pratima have been great advocates."
Patel also let the group know a little bit more about the hotel, stating there would be around 28 suites, a gym and everyone's favorite continental breakfast and indoor pool.
"I've seen the growth of this hotel — the success of the Holiday Inn Express and the development of Duncan itself and I wanted to help further grow it," he said.
Patel said he was from Ardmore but felt the two towns feel very similar, which is one of the draws for him and his company.
"I really like the community itself, it's really easy to work with people, you get great partners — from the city to the contractors, WW Builders, it just made sense. I have been working with them for a while on different deals and it was just a great partnership to be here," he said. "I really feel it is going to drive more people to this town and hopefully bring more business along with it."
The planned finish date of the project is summer of 2019.
