New hotel, retailers head to Troy development

A Comfort Suites hotel is coming to a booming development in Troy, and plans are pending for a second, adjacent hotel down the pike.

Developers will break ground this fall on the 65- to 80-suite Comfort Suites hotel, located in the Troy Towne Park development that hugs the northern side of the Wal-Mart Super Center along Interstate 75. The $5 million hotel is slated to open in April, said hotel owner Utendra Patel.

The hotel is one of several new projects in the 67-acre Troy Towne Park, a Singer Properties' development that houses Towne Park Apartments, The Learning Place and Jay & Mary's Book Center. The retail, restaurant and apartment project is getting a Coldstone Creamery, a New Orleans Bistro and a dentist's office in the coming months, said Alex Kolodesh with Singer.

"It's a growing area ... Troy is expanding itself with new industries," Patel said. "Miami County is a good county to do business in."

Patel plans to close on the purchase of two acres in Troy Towne Park at the end of August, and he hopes to build the foundation before the ground freezes this winter.

Patel may invest in more property in Troy Towne Park in the future. Depending on the performance of the Comfort Suites, he may build a higher-end, Cambria hotel adjacent to the first in the coming years. That hotel would contain between 80 rooms to 85 rooms, he said. He has no timetable for its construction.

The Comfort Suites will target the middle- to upper-class business traveler, charging between $80 and $150 per night. All of the rooms will be suites, with areas for sleeping and for living and working. The rooms will be about 420 square feet, compared with the standard, 300-square-foot room, Patel said. Five suites will have hot tubs.

The hotel also will include a two-story lobby, a swimming pool and hot tub, fitness center and breakfast area. The first floor will contain a small board room for five to 10 people and a large meeting room that fits 50 to 60 people.

The Comfort Suites is the fourth such hotel in the Dayton area, with other Comfort Suites in Dayton, Middletown and Springfield.

The arrival marks the ninth hotel for Troy, and the first one to crop up in several years, said Chuck Cochran, president of the Troy Development Council. Cochran said hotel investors chose Troy in part because of the industrial growth the area recently has seen. In 2006 Troy received $247 million in new industrial development and 1,055 new jobs.

And the hotel's location -- with visibility along I-75 -- is key.

"We're located on I-75 next to I-70," Cochran said. "We call that the 'Crossroads of America.'"

Hotel aside, retail in Troy Towne Park has been hopping in recent weeks. The owners of Cork-N-Vine, which operate the wine tasting and retail shop's first location in the park, opened a sandwich shop across the parking lot. Dagwood's, which serves deli-style sandwiches -- with coleslaw and french fries on top -- opened mid-July.

A new, 10,000-square-foot building on the western side of the development will get a Coldstone Creamery in a 1,500-square-foot spot in about two months, Kolodesh said.

The building also will get a New Orleans Bistro, which opened its first local spot in early July off Miller Lane in Butler Township. The fast-casual restaurant will open its second Dayton-area location in a 2,500-square-foot slot in about six months.

Less than half of Troy Towne Park is available for development. Kolodesh envisions six or seven out-parcels with restaurants along the eastern side of the property bordering I-75. The Miller-Valentine Group also bought six acres on the northern edge and plans to build five, 12,000-square-foot buildings there for professional and medical office space. One already is constructed.

Up and running in the development is the 204-unit Towne Park Apartments. In retail sections of the development, Winans Fine Chocolates and Coffee, A.G. Edwards and National City have locations there.

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