New hotel planned for CdA

COEUR d’ALENE – A new Holiday Inn Express planned on Seltice Way is one of the first new hotel projects in Kootenai County in several years, despite robust growth in demand.

The $8 million hotel is scheduled to open in May or June. The 100-room property will be built on two acres near the Interstate 90 interchange. It will cater to both business and leisure travelers.

“We tried to determine what the best use of the site was, and hospitality was certainly the best use,” said Ryan Nipp of Parkwood Business Properties in Coeur d’Alene, a partner in the project. Market research also supported plans for a new hotel, he said.

Kootenai County’s hotel-motel receipts grew by 9 percent over the past year. Demand for rooms has increased nearly 4 percent since the beginning of the year, and room rates rose from an average of $92 to $98, according to figures from Smith Travel Research. The Tennessee-based firm tracks trends in the industry.

Despite the growth, Kootenai County’s hotel inventory has remained fairly flat, at around 2,200 rooms. Another Holiday Inn Express, opened in Hayden this year by different owners, is the county’s only other recent hotel addition. “9/11 really did hurt the industry, and it’s taken awhile for hotels to recover from that,” said Jonathan Coe, manager of the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

Construction on the new Holiday Inn Express will begin later this year. The new hotel will be owned by Parkwood Business Properties, in partnership with a Spokane firm, KVC Development.

The Holiday Inn Express will be the anchor of an eight-acre commercial site that Parkwood plans to develop. The treed parcel on the south side of Seltice Way is located near Fairwinds Retirement Community.