The city’s newest hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites at east Vancouver’s former Evergreen Airport site, quietly opened for business about three weeks ago and is preparing for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 20.
The good news for the hotel chain is that the 99-room hotel at 315 S.E. Olympia Drive has already achieved more than one night of full occupancy, even without local fanfare, said Taylor Nintzel, the hotel’s general manager. That strong showing comes ahead of any other development on the 59-acre former airstrip, which is slated for a mixed-use development that has so far been called The Landing. With the hotel kicking off development of the large site north of Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and east of Southeast 136th Avenue, Nintzel said, “the roads are opened; barricades are down.”
The new addition to the Hampton brand’s worldwide roster of 1,900 hotels stands four stories tall and has 99 rooms, of which nearly half are suites. Prices, which are adjusted by season and other factors, generally range from $119 for the lowest-priced room up to $229 for a suite. Nintzel said the hotel will appeal in part to local business travelers and consultants visiting local hospitals and technology companies such as Hewlett-Packard. The hotel offers a free shuttle to Portland International Airport for those travelers.
The Hampton currently has 30 employees and the number could climb to 40 workers in busier seasons, Nintzel said. Filling those positions, he said, was “wonderfully easy.”
One attraction at Vancouver’s first Hampton Inn is the Lewis and Clark Conference Room, a 1,400-square-foot hall that can seat 120 people in a theatre setting and 80 when it is set up with round tables for more casual gatherings. The hotel also features a meeting room that can accommodate 12 people around an extended executive desk. It offers a fully equipped gym and saltwater pool, a 24-hour confectionery and a back patio with a view of Mount Hood.
The Hampton’s entrance into Clark County’s hotel market comes at a time of increased demand for hotel accommodations. In August, hotel occupancy in the county’s 2,541 hotel rooms hit 86.9 percent, up from 82.3 percent in August 2013, said Kim Bennett, president & CEO at Vancouver USA Regional Tourism Office. Occupancy has risen 5.6 percent so far this year compared to a year ago, the tourism office estimates.
With the hotel up and running, the focus now shifts to the remainder of the site of the former airfield, which closed in 2006. The property changed hands a couple of times as the recession dampened demand for commercial property before it was sold in 2009 to B52 Point of Evergreen, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Hawthorn Retirement Group, for $10.4 million. Tax records show the property is now owned by The Landing at Vancouver LLC, c/o of Harvest LLC.
Following the sale of the Hampton Suites site to an investment group, county tax records show nearly 46 acres remain open for development. The property is zoned for mixed-use development that allows commercial and some residential development, said Chad Aiken, Vancouver’s community and economic development director. As market conditions have changed, two master plans have already been developed for the property, he said.
Developers have not filed permit requests, but current plans call for construction of three retail buildings and two restaurant pads, said Matt Harrell of Hawthorn Retirement Group, speaking for developers. Under those plans, construction is expected to begin in spring 2015, with tenant space available by late 2015 to early 2016.
Elaine Gesik-Nusser, principal broker at Equity Advisers LLC, who is identified at the site as a broker for the property, said she could not comment about possible tenants for the development.
