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Marriot plans August opening Jim Craven Crews are completing the roof of a 68-room Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriot at the Interstate 5 interchange in Central Point. While the Fairfield is right on schedule, its proposed neighbor, a 109-room Comfort Suites, has been delayed for another year. Comfort Suites next door will take a little longer By BUFFY POLLOCK CENTRAL POINT � Of two hotels planned near the Interstate 5 interchange, one is right on schedule; the other has seen more detours than construction workers. A three-story, 68-room Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriot is being roofed this week and is scheduled for an August opening. "Ours is right on line, well under construction," said Timothy Hovet, president of Sycan Development Corp., which is overseeing the project on behalf of property owner Hotel Investment Property Two LLC. The 36,000-square-foot structure, located near the intersection of South Peninger Road and LaRue Drive, will include a Shari�s restaurant. While the Marriot should be accommodating guests by this summer, its proposed neighbor, a 109-room Comfort Suites and restaurant, is taking longer than developers anticipated. Investor and project architect Daniel Parks said that, thanks to numerous "road blocks " � including an appeal by neighboring developers and the death of landholder William Cornitius in January � the hotel missed its April ground breaking. "We�ve had a few glitches, so things are still postponed," he said. "We have no tentative date at this point for the hotel. We�re concentrating on maybe opening the restaurant portion of the project first, maybe in the next six months," Parks said. The project calls for a 4,000-square-foot restaurant inside a four-story, 42,000-square-foot hotel. The January site plan appeal by neighboring developers stemmed from a 1996 agreement between the city and Peninger/ LaRue LLC, developers of land now owned by Pilot and also involved in the Marriott project. The agreement stated reimbursement would be made to Peninger/LaRue by future developers for more than $420,000 of infrastructure improvements made to streets, water lines, storm sewers and traffic signals. The Comfort Suites site plan was eventually approved on the basis that reimbursement was to be paid before final inspection would be issued. City staff were directed to develop a reimbursement schedule in order to charge future developers, including the Comfort Suites. Although the site plan issues for the $5 million project were finally worked out, Parks said, financing problems have cropped up and will continue to delay the project. He declined to be specific on the problems, but said he was hopeful the hotel would be near completion by April 2002. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.