Eden Prairie considers Hampton Inn plan

It was a bit of a squeeze, but TPI Hospitality finally has a plan it likes for a new Hampton Inn in Eden Prairie.

The Willmar-based company has been working since 2015 to develop a 1.7-acre lot at 11825 Technology Drive. The site is about three blocks from the deferred Eden Prairie Town Center station on the future Southwest Light Rapid Transit line. Construction of that station was deferred, or delayed, to cut costs on the LRT project. The line is currently planned to end at the SouthWest transit station in the city.

The Hampton Inn property, which sits on Lake Idlewild just south of the Interstate 494-Highway 212 interchange, required some creativity, TPI Chief Investment Officer Chris Flagg said Wednesday.

“It was a tight site, so it took us a couple years to figure out how to design the building so it was feasible operationally as well as economically,” he said in an interview. The property “is an odd shape, and then we also needed to be sensitive to Lake Idlewild, which is a recreational lake, and [to] the wetlands and boundaries associated with developing a lakefront property.”

The result is a 105-room, six-story design now moving through the city of Eden Prairie approval process. The city Planning Commission in April recommended approval of the project after a site plan review, and the City Council is scheduled to consider it on May 15, Flagg said.

Eden Prairie City Planner Julie Klima said it’s been at least five years since the last hotel was built in the city, and the property in question had been identified as suitable for lodging in a city design study.

TPI previously brought an earlier, five-story draft of the hotel proposal to the city in 2016. Although that was approved, Klima said, TPI still went back to the drawing board to craft the current design, incorporating new design guidance from Eden Prairie in the process. The company earned praise for their improvements on the original plan.

“When it went through the Planning Commission review this past April, several of the commissioners did comment on an improved aesthetic and architecture of this building over the version presented in 2016,” Klima said.

If approved, TPI hopes to break ground later this year and open the hotel in 2019, Flagg said. He declined to give a project cost, saying the company was still working on the numbers. An online certificate of real estate value shows a TPI entity purchased the property in May 2015 for $1.9 million.

The site is occupied by a standalone IHOP restaurant, which will be torn down.

TPI zeroed in on the project because of the lakeside location and the broader Eden Prairie market, Flagg said.

“We look at [Eden Prairie] as kind of the Silicon Valley of the Twin Cities region,” he said. “When it comes to new startups and incubating companies, we feel Eden Prairie is very strong and has a bright future. We also are optimistic that Southwest Light Rail will get built, and that was one driver in our original acquisition of this [location].”

The decision to build a Hampton Inn came after reviewing the other hotel offerings available in Eden Prairie.

“We have five other Hampton Inns in our portfolio, so it’s a very strong brand for us and one of our preferred brands when we’re in a market where it’s available,” Flagg said.

All parking for the hotel will be on surface lots, a change from the 2016 proposal that included underground parking. The building does not include space for a restaurant.

The Willmar office of Ramaker & Associates has design duties. Bloomington-based Doran Construction is the general contractor.

Source:  Finance-commerce.com