News & Events

By Eric Anderson, eanderson@timesunion.com
Times Union

Posted: 05/10/14 

COLONIE, N.Y. -- A new wave of hotel construction, with nearly 1,000 rooms in 10 projects, is on the drawing board or under construction along the Northway corridor from Colonie to Saratoga Springs.

Most are either extended-stay properties or hotels offering limited service. And they're opening as the Capital Region's technology sector expands, boosting business travel.

On Tuesday, the Pavilion Grand in Saratoga Springs will open and the following week, the Residence Inn by Marriott in Clifton Park will welcome its first guests.

A new Homewood Suites by Hilton is under construction in the parking lot of the Clifton Park Center, while an Embassy Suites by Hilton will open this fall in downtown Saratoga Springs.

Another Homewood Suites by Hilton is proposed for the south end of Saratoga Springs, while the Rip Van Dam Hotel on Broadway is adding a modern hotel behind its nearly 180-year-old main building, which it also will renovate. When completed, the property will have 179 rooms, said Jim Quinn, one of the partners in the project.

Next door, the Adelphi Hotel, built in 1877, is being renovated to reopen next year.

Together, the two hotels will bring back some of the grandeur of downtown Saratoga Springs, Quinn said.

At the Northway corridor's southern end, four hotels are in the works along Wolf Road in Colonie. They'll add another 400 hotel rooms to the 3,400 that Michele Vennard, president and CEO of the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau, says are already along Wolf Road.

Construction is well under way on a Staybridge Inn and Suites at the north end of Colonie Center and has begun on the Home2 Suites by Hilton at 10 Metro Park Road.

A Holiday Inn Express and Suites is planned at the site of Lazare Lincoln on Wolf Road, while First Columbia Development is planning a six-story hotel at the corner of Wolf and Albany-Shaker roads.

Is there a market for all the new space?

"I think the developers who are literally spending millions of dollars wouldn't be spending if they didn't think it would be successful," said Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Developers are typically spending $10 million to $12 million on each project. Some are more expensive. The Rip Van Dam project, for example, is expected to cost $45 million.

"The makeup of the consumer renting hotel rooms in Saratoga County has changed," Shimkus said.

"We have a significantly higher percentage of corporate travel than ever before."

Several other hotel operators also mentioned the massive new semiconductor plant operated by GlobalFoundries at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta, as well as the growing cluster of tech companies at the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany.

"General Electric continues to grow in the area," said Richard J. David, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rockgate Management Co., which will operate the Residence Inn by Marriott in Clifton Park. The hotel is a short drive from GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna. And the Capital Region continues to be a hub for insurance and banking, he added.

Vennard said the area's universities and colleges also are drawing plenty of business travel.

Howard Carr, a developer who is involved in the Holiday Inn Express project on Wolf Road, said Saratoga County was due for new hotels.

"Much of the product there was old and tired," he said. "A lot didn't have the amenities travelers want, the techie stuff."

Clifton Park's new Residence Inn will have everything from communal tables in the lobby lounge where young business travelers can gather with their tablets and notebook computers to large worktables and plenty of lights and electrical outlets in their rooms.

Wi-Fi — free, of course — is a given in most of the new properties.

What's missing? Such features as 24-hour room service, a concierge, a full dining room and ballroom.

"The days of the full-service hotel are dying off," Carr said.

STR, a hotel data provider in Hendersonville, Tenn., says that more than 55 percent of hotels in development are limited service, offering free Wi-Fi, free breakfast, and good location.

When it comes to meetings and conferences, full-service hotels still play a critical role.

Vennard points to last week's three-day meeting that Schenectady transportation software company Transfinder held for its customers at the Hilton Albany. The event drew 200 people.

Locally, the hotel business has strengthened as the economy recovers.

Shimkus says for the 12 months through March both occupancy and room revenues are up in Saratoga County.

The March occupancy rate of 62.9 percent was the highest for the month in at least six years, according to STR. The same is true in the Albany/Troy market, according to STR, with the occupancy rate at 63.4 percent in March. The revenue per available room also was the highest for the year to date for at least the past six years, according to STR.

While business travel is growing, the Saratoga region, with Saratoga Race Course and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, remains a popular destination for leisure travelers, Shimkus said.

August is when the average daily room rate peaks, not only in Saratoga County, but in Albany and Troy as well, according to STR.

Last year, the average room that cost $219.73 in Saratoga County in August was $104.23 in January.

While most of the new hotels are limited service or extended stay, the new Rip Van Dam in Saratoga Springs will offer a full range of services for both the leisure traveler and business traveler.

The top floor, said Quinn, will have banquet and meeting space, in addition to a view of Congress Park.