Feb. 06–A developer is finding room for a new hotel in Millcreek Township.

The 75-room hotel would be built on 1.5 acres just east of Red Lobster restaurant at the Millcreek Mall.

Millcreek supervisors took the first step to approve the hotel when they accepted the sewer plans for the development.

The next steps will be rezoning the property to C-2, general commercial, to match the surrounding retail zoning, and the supervisors voting on a land-development plan, said Matt Waldinger, land-development coordinator for the township.

The hotel — a brand name is not yet known — would be built on the north side of Interchange Road, though Waldinger said that part of the road is actually an extension of Edinboro Road. It would be east of the mall entrance and the restaurant.

The developer is Michael Patel, 48, chief operating officer of the Chase Hotel Group, which owns 12 hotels nationwide, including three in Summit Township.

Those hotels include the Home2 Suites by Hilton, 8035 Oliver Road, which is scheduled to open March 31, said the hotel’s general manager, Lisa Chilson, 46, of Erie.

Home2 Suites, with 79 suites, is an extended stay hotel that will employ 25 to 30 people, she said.

Chase also owns the La Quinta Inn and Suites, 7820 Perry Highway, and the Country Inn and Suites, 8040 Oliver Road.

Erie County has about 3,900 hotel rooms, including the Home2 Suites and a new Baymont Inn and Suites that will open across from Presque Isle Downs & Casino this spring, said John Oliver, president of VisitErie, Erie County’s tourism promotion agency.

“I’m assuming they’ve done the market research studies to show the need, or that there is a need for an additional hotel out there. We need to continually look to expand the market so we’re bringing in new people to use the rooms, rather than just dividing the existing market,” Oliver said.

The new hotel would be the fifth in the immediate mall area, he said.

Patel, formerly of Erie and now residing in West Orange, N.J., said he believes in the Erie market. He doesn’t know when construction will start.

“We’re just in the early, early stage of a concept,” he said.

JOHN GUERRIERO can be reached at 870-1690 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNguerriero.