Oct. 27–Columbus is seeing a spurt in hotel development, and Indus Hotels is in the thick of it.
The Columbus-based developer and operator is working on three local projects: two close to Ohio State University, and the newest in the heart of Dublin’s Bridge Street corridor.
Indus operates six local hotels, including the Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown.
President David Patel attributes his company’s building boom to the recovering economy, a loosening of lenders’ purse strings and his company’s track record.
“It’s a combination of everything,” Patel said. “Our company is doing well, and the hotel business is coming back.”
The company’s $19 million Hampton Inn & Suites at 3160 Olentangy River Rd. is expected to open in August. It will have 152 rooms.
Indus recently purchased property farther south for another hotel project, at 1299 Olentangy River Rd. That site includes the Cap City Fine Diner & Bar and a medical-offices building and carried a purchase price of $3.9 million.
Patel plans to build a 150-room, $22 million hotel on the property. The medical offices eventually will be razed, while the popular Cameron Mitchell restaurant will remain.
“We’re still working on the brand. We’re working with a few franchises,” he said, adding that construction is expected to start in early 2015 and be completed sometime the following year.
Indus also plans to be involved in the proposed $300 million mixed-use project in Dublin being developed by Crawford Hoying. Plans call for a 196-room hotel with 30,000 square feet of meeting space.
Patel and his company get good marks from a knowledgeable local observer.
“David’s been a very consistent, long-term hotel operator,” said Eric Belfrage, a hotel specialist with the commercial real-estate firm CB Richard Ellis in Columbus.
“He’s stepped up the brand level he’s developing and has been a very successful operator.”
Hotel sector improving
Overall, the hotel industry is on the rise.
The occupancy rate at the nation’s hotels was up 3.3 percent to 63.4 percent in September, and the average daily rate was up 3.3 percent to $111.03, according to STR.
Local numbers for September were not available.
Slow and steady
Cautious optimism remains the mantra for local construction companies, as the economy slowly rebounds and rebuilds.
” Optimism is the word I would use,” said Kyle Rooney, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction’s Columbus office. “The architectural community is telling us they’re busier, which means there could be a lot more projects on the horizon.”
Numbers from the American Institute of Architects indicate this is a national trend.
Its September Architecture Billings Index was 54.3, the second-highest score of the year. The index is an economic indicator that provides a glimpse into the future of construction spending in the non-residential sector.
A score above 50 indicates growth.
A report from the commercial real-estate service CBRE in Columbus indicates more warehouse buildings are part of the improving economy.
The vacancy rate is 4.8 percent, down from 14.1 percent in 2009.
“Speculative construction has begun due to low vacancy and high net absorption for modern warehouse product,” according to the report.
There’s also promising news from NAIOP, formerly known as the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. According to its most recent report, Ohio was fifth in the nation in the construction of office, industrial and warehouse and retail space in 2012.
This adds up to a little more than $2 billion in projects and about 77,000 jobs.
New York was No. 1 at $4.8 billion and 122,600 jobs.
@stevewartenberg
