Marriott to occupy hotel building

The new 125- to 135-room hotel, which will be constructed next to the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center by San Antonio-based K Partners Hospitality Group, will contain a SpringHill Suites, pending formal confirmation, said Terrebonne Economic Develop-ment Authority CEO Mike Ferdinand at the agency’s meeting last Wednesday night.

The SpringHill Suites chain is part of the Marriott International group of hotels.

The move was somewhat unexpected. K Partners had informed the Terrebonne Parish Council’s Community Development and Planning Committee at its Oct. 22 meeting that the hotel developer was building a Hilton Garden Inn.

But Ferdinand said that K Partners has been conducting negotiations using “either platform (Hilton or Marriott).”

On Nov. 29, 2006, the Terrebonne Parish Council approved a sales agreement with the Birmingham-based Integral Hospitality Solutions to build a Hilton Garden Inn at the Civic Center site, but Integral did not go through with the development.

At a TEDA meeting on April 18, K Partners told TEDA the developer intended to build a SpringHill Suites followed by a Hilton Garden Inn at the Civic Center site.

Last Wednesday, Ferdinand said Terrebonne Parish government will be responsible for carrying out due diligence on the hotel’s construction, but TEDA would want to track progress on the project.

K Partners has indicated the group will sink $18 million into the development. The hotel’s annual payroll would be around $1 million. The parish is expected to receive $405,000 in yearly sales taxes from the project.

In 2006, SpringHill Suites operated 153 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. All those properties have high-speed Internet access and offer Suite Sensations hot breakfasts. Most of the hotels have pools and exercise rooms.