July 13–COLONIE — A third hotel is being proposed for the busy Wolf Road corridor, to be built on the site of the current Lazare Lincoln dealership at 144 Wolf Road.
Developer Howard Carr said the five-story hotel would include 100 to 110 rooms, with two national restaurant chains and a national retailer all part of the project.
He estimated the entire development would cost $14 million to $16 million. The restaurants and the retailer, which weren’t identified, would be new to the region, Carr added.
The hotel also hasn’t been identified, but Carr said it likely would be a limited-service hotel.
Lazare is moving to another site in the area, Carr said.
The project, called Sterling Place, is one of two hotels on the Colonie planning board agenda for its Tuesday night meeting.
A $10 million Home2 Suites by Hilton, is being developed at 10 Metro Park Road, just off Wolf Road, by Crosswinds Development of Latham.
This will be the first time the public gets to view the Carr project and the planning board gets to comment on it, said Joseph LaCivita, Colonie’s director of planning and development.
The four-story, 91-room Home2 Suites by Hilton, an extended-stay hotel, is seeking concept approval.
A third hotel, the seven-story, 115-room Staybridge Suites being developed by Michael Hoffman, is planned for the north end of the Macy’s parking lot at Colonie Center.
The three projects will add more than 300 rooms to the Wolf Road corridor, which has 3,400 rooms, said Michele Vennard, president of the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“That’s about half of our inventory” in the entire county, she added. Will there be a market for all the additional rooms?
“Hotels are rarely built on need,” Vennard said. “They’re built because there are good financial conditions to build a hotel.”
As for Carr, he’s leaving the operation of the hotel to others.
“I don’t like it when my tenants change every day,” he said.
eanderson@timesunion.com, 518-454-5323
