Hotel work to begin at Phoenix Expo
by July 6, 2011 6:05 pm 53 views
The initial plans have been somewhat downsized, but FSM Redevelopment Partners are moving forward to build a hotel that connect to the Phoenix Expo and Trade Center.
Lance Beaty, a partner in FSM Redevelopment, said Wednesday (July 6) that he purchased a demolition permit from the city, with the estimated cost of demolition and other site prep reaching $500,000.
The portion of the former mall slated for demolition includes all of the mall immediately north of the Phoenix Expo to the former Furr’s cafeteria, stopping just short of the former Phoenix Twin movie theatres. The theatre space will be preserved and included in the hotel phase of development as educational and performance theaters, Beaty said.
Approximately 50,000 square feet of the former mall between the hotel and the new Sykes call center will be remodeled into updated retail and restaurant space.
Phase I of the hotel development will consist of 90 rooms with a mix of executive suites as well as standard rooms. The hotel, expected to be complete in February 2013, will connect to the Phoenix Expo by an atrium walkway. The atrium walkway will house a full service bar and lounge, a full service restaurant, and an additional 10,000-square-feet of meeting space and breakout rooms.
Construction and announcement of the hotel chain is tentatively scheduled for fall 2011.
“The flag (hotel chain) is an upper intermediate hotel well known to the business traveler across the country,” Beaty said in a statement. “The hotel will feature a complete business center, indoor pool, hot tub, complete full service fitness center and will offer guests shuttle service to and from the airport, restaurants and other business destinations in Fort Smith via vans and executive sedans.”
He also said FSM Redevelopment had retained Atlanta-based The Highland Group Hotel Investment Advisors to assist in the market study and development of the hotel.
In July 2010, Beaty said it was possible a hotel operator would build a $40 million, 275-room hotel.
In January 2009, FSM Redevelopment Partners LLC purchased the 35-acre former Phoenix Village Mall — bounded by Phoenix Avenue on the south, Towson Avenue on the east and Wheeler Avenue on the west. The once poorly-maintained site contained more than 10 acres of structures and was the first enclosed mall constructed in Arkansas. Since that time, FSM Redevelopment Partners has invested more than $8.5 million in site improvements, with much of that to create the meeting and convention space at Phoenix Expo.