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A partnership formed by Independence Lodging Inc. is seeking planning and zoning approval for one of the metro’s first Tru by Hilton hotels on a vacant site southeast of 117th Street and Blackbob Road in Olathe.
Deepak Parmar, owner of the Independence-based hotel development firm, said a recommendation of approval from the Olathe Planning Commission on Monday will keep the $10 million, 93-room hotel project on track for an early 2018 groundbreaking.
“It’s an attractive location off Interstate 35 in a strong commercial development market,” Parmar said of the impetus for developing the new Olathe hotel.
He also mentioned a recently approved $65 million soccer-anchored development four miles away at Kansas Highway 10 and Ridgeview as a driver that should increase demand for the new Tru.
Unveiled by Hilton Worldwide as its 13th brand early last year, Tru by Hilton is a midscale hotel brand that targets younger travelers with daily room rates in the $90 to $100 range, modern design, technology advances such as mobile check-in, and public spaces where guests can work and socialize.
Independence Lodging, which manages its hotels through its Falcon Hospitality Group, also is developing the $12 million, 84-room Hampton Inn Hotel and Conference Room in nearby Gardner.
A groundbreaking for that project, which will include an 8,200-square-foot banquet and meeting space, is scheduled for June 20 at the southeast corner of Cedar Niles Road and Santa Fe Street, where the hotel is scheduled to open in fall 2018.
The hotel developers chose that site, Parmar said recently, because the surrounding southwest Johnson County employment base is exploding due to industrial developments such as the 1,700-acre Logistics Park Kansas City, New Century AirCenter near Gardner, and I-35 Industrial Park, among several others, in Olathe.
Independence Lodging currently owns five hotels in Missouri and Kentucky and has a sixth, a Springhill Suites by Marriott, under construction near Kansas City International Airport.
Its existing hotels operate under five different flags: Americas Best Value Inn, Super 8, Candlewood Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn Express, and Home2 Suites by Hilton.
