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Construction to Start Soon on $11M Hotel Project
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Work on an 85-room, $11 million Comfort Suites Hotel and separate banquet center that would accommodate up to 500 guests is set to begin soon in Liberty Township, officials confirm.
"I'd expect them to start work pretty quickly," said Liberty Township Administrator Patrick J. Ungaro. "This could be a great year for Liberty."
Ungaro said the new hotel complex would sit on nine acres near the Interstate 80 interchange on Belmont Avenue where a Ramada Inn once stood. That hotel, vacant nearly 10 years, was razed to make room for new development.
"I'm hopeful they could get started in June," the administrator reported. Word of the project leaked out in September, but Ungaro confirmed Tuesday that work on the new hotel is set to get under way.
A physicians group led by local anesthesiologist V.C. Perni and Radius Hospitality, owners of the Holiday Inn-Boardman, will own and manage the new hotel, Ungaro said.
The ownership group has applied for tax incentives of a 49% abatement over 10 years through the township's designated Community Investment Area, or CRA. "The CRA brings some juice in the game," Ungaro said.
The group met with Trumbull County's planning commission yesterday.
Under a CRA, a development can receive an abatement of up to 50% of taxes based on the project's total investment.
When it opens, the hotel would employ 25. The ownership group also plans to develop parcels in front along Belmont to accommodate restaurants and retail shops.
The project's preliminary CRA application shows that the new hotel has 85 suites, a fitness center, a business center, meeting rooms and a swimming pool.
Once the Ohio Department of Development and Trumbull County Board of Commissioners approve the CRA application, and the land is properly replatted, work can begin on the project, Ungaro noted.
"Everything's done," he said. "There are just a few technical things."
Such new developments bode well for the Belmont Avenue corridor and Liberty Township, Ungaro remarked. "The economy is getting better, and we're ready for this," he said. "There are another half-dozen or so projects here that aren't that far along, but could be soon."
Ungaro estimates about 90% of the buildings along Belmont Avenue are filled. "I'd say half of Belmont was empty" roughly 10 years ago, he added.
Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel noted the development in Liberty is just one example of how new industries such as oil and gas exploration are beginning to expand opportunities for business in the Mahoning Valley.
"We're seeing it throughout the county," Heltzel said, noting that oil and gas exploration in the region's Utica shale has helped bring positive attention to the entire region.
"That's going to happen more and more," he said.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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