New Holiday Inn Express begins construction in Southgate, MI

[Hudsons81]

This will be the first HIE in Michigan to use the current HIE prototype style. It will replace the current Holiday Inn just up Prechter Boulevard at Northline Road, which will be rebranded.

http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2015/07/29/news/doc55b9131c26ab9406681889.txt

Southgate will soon be home to the state’s first new version of the Holiday Inn Express.

Construction began this month on the new hotel, which will be situated on Heritage Drive opposite of the One Heritage Place building.

The hotel will replace the current Holiday Inn on North Line Road, but that property will not be closing. Instead, the current hotel will renovated and rebranded --- most likely into a Wyndham Gardens, according to a spokesman from Southgate Lodging, a group that owns the hotel as well as the nearby Hampton Inn and the new hotel development.

The Holiday Inn Express will feature 114 rooms as well as a modern layout, which is part of the company's new prototype. The hotel is slated to open some time between May and July 2016.

Southgate Lodging’s spokesman said the development has created dozens of construction jobs but also will create 20-25 new hotel positions in the area.

The project includes the former ASC Building, which has been vacant for at least five years and sits alongside Walnut Street next to the Celebration Church of Christ. The former ASC Building is slated for demolition within the next two weeks. In its place, a green space and buffer zone with a berm will be erected to separate the residential area from the hotel. The area could potentially be developed in the future, however, according to Southgate Lodging.

Mayor Joseph Kuspa said the new development is a testament to the city’s decision to make the area a hotel overlay district. The hotel is the second to be built by Southgate Lodging within three years.

“We’re very pleased with the fact that the Holiday Inn Express will be the first new one of its kind in Michigan,” Kuspa said.