By Mike Trask, Special Corespndent
Construction will commence soon on the first Wingate Inn hotel to be owned exclusively by African-American members of a single church. A ground-breaking ceremony for the 100-room hotel is scheduled for Tuesday morning in the Missouri Research Park.
The four-story hotel, expected to open in the second quarter of next year, will be owned by the members of the Fifth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church through a corporation called Inn at Missouri Bluffs L.L.P. and will be managed by Leisure Hotels & Resorts. The address will be 18 Research Park Circle in the research park, located at the intersection of highways 40 and 94 in St. Charles County.
The Inn at Missouri Bluffs is the first of what is planned to be several such investments in the hospitality industry by the Fifth District A.M.E. Church through its economic development fund, said Harold Whitfield, CEO of the limited liability partnership. The Fifth Episcopal covers 17 states and includes 253 churches, he said.
Whitfield said the partnership “was formed specifically for this hotel. The idea is for the profits to be applied back into a not-for-profit organization that supports the religious activities of the church.” The cost of the hotel project “is in the area of $7.1 million,” he added. CB&E Construction Group of St. Louis will be the project’s general contractor.
Cendant Hotel Group of Parsippany, N. J., is the hotel franchisor. Cendant Corp., which is a Fortune 200 Company, also owns U.S. Title & Guaranty Co. Inc. and the Coldwell Banker Gundaker real estate company.
Plans call for the hotel to feature a 24-hour business center, a conference room that will seat up to 200 people, fitness facilities, indoor and outdoor pools, a whirlpool and serve a daily continental breakfast. Each guest room will be equipped with a variety of amenities, including a two-line speaker phone, a large desk, a coffee maker, a hair dryer, an iron and ironing board, a in-room safe, pay-per-view movies, free wired and wireless, high-speed Internet access and free local phone calls.
Whitfield said the hotel’s patio will overlook the Missouri Bluff Golf Club, also located in the research park. “The ambience for a hotel [in the research park] is outstanding,” he said. With proper signage, the property should be visible from Highway 40, he added.
Whitfield also said that the hotel’s location presents marketing opportunities for gold packages, not only for Missouri Bluffs but for the golf courses at nearby Wing Haven Country Club and Persimmon Woods Golf Club. He also believes that companies located in this region, as well as the University of Missouri System, which owns the research park, will utilize the conference facilities at the hotel.
“We will have more conference room in this faculty that Wingate normally has,” he said. Whitfield said the Wingate chain contacted the church about the possibility of becoming a hotel franchise. Wingate, according to its Web site, has a minority franchise development program.
On Thursday one of the most experienced site selectors in the country said the Missouri Research Park is “world renowned.” Deane Foote, a site selector for the Fort Worth, Texas-based consulting firm of Carter & Burgess Inc., was in St. Charles to present his analysis of the county’s standing in regards to economic development.
Leisure Hotels & Resorts is a third-party management group that operates as a division of Kansas-based Leisure Group of Cos. The company specializes in hotel and convention center development, construction management, brokerage services and the management of hotels. At present Leisure manages 24 hotels in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico and Texas.
Photo caption:
Members of a Methodist Episcopal church, acting through a limited liability partnership, plan to break ground next week on a 100-room Wingate Inn hotel in the Missouri Research Park, like the one shown in this picture.
