Developers preparing 2 Beltline Road sites for hotels

Bayne Hughes, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·3 min read

Oct. 13—The north end of Beltline Road is becoming Decatur's hotel central with two more hotel developers looking to build, one south of Old Moulton Road and one at Courtyard Circle Southwest.

The two hotels, whose names haven't been disclosed, are entering the early stages of the city approval process. They went through the city's Technical Review Committee on Tuesday to prepare for next week's Planning Commission meeting.

If both are fully developed, there would be six hotels near Old Moulton Road's intersection with the Beltline. There are currently three hotels on Courtyard Circle and one northwest of the Old Moulton/Beltline intersection.

Crystal Brown, president and chief executive officer of the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, said the location is prime for hotel development because of its proximity to Jack Allen Recreation Complex, local industries and the new softball complex.

"The location gives people the ability to do things along this corridor, including there's a lot of food nearby," Brown said.

Danielle Gibson, director of Decatur-Morgan County Tourism, added that Ingalls Harbor and Pavilion, where the city often hosts bass tournaments, are only a short drive away on Alabama 20.

Councilman Kyle Pike, who works for Contractor Services and Fabrication, said many of his fellow employees stay at the Beltline Road hotels when they come to Decatur for a project.

"A lot of the corporate base is on the river," Pike said. "And they like to stay at those hotels because of their convenience to Highway 20."

Gibson said one of the reasons these hotels are selecting the location "is just land availability at this point. This area is centrally located with a high number of restaurants nearby."

Gibson said the hotels would provide needed rooms. She recently said at least one more hotel is needed so participants in the many soccer, softball and bass tournaments have a place to stay in Decatur. A Fairfield Inn by Marriott is under construction in downtown Decatur.

The hotel south of Old Moulton Road near the Beltline is being developed by Omega Hotel Group of Madison.

Represented Tuesday by engineer Richard Humphrey, of Pugh Wright McAnally, Omega is working to consolidate five lots into a single 10.8-acre parcel.

The recently annexed property is on the southeast corner of the intersection with Beltline Road Southwest and across Old Moulton from a Mapco gas station.

Omega has 14 hotels, including a Fairfield Inn & Suites, Holiday Inn Express and Best Western Athens Inn in Athens, and a Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Madison.

Omega's website says it has partnerships with Best Western, Choice Hotels International and Intercontinental Hotel Group.

Hospitality Acquisition Co. LLC, of Huntsville, began the city approval process Tuesday on the Courtyard Circle property. It wants to consolidate 1.35 and 1.49 acres at 1205 Courtyard Circle into a single parcel of 2.84 acres.

The company is also asking the city to vacate a 0.15 acre drainage easement that runs through the property.

Matt Herrell, of Haliburton Surveying, represented Hospitality at Tuesday's meeting. He said the company "is in the preliminary stages of designing the hotel site."

Herrell told the Technical Review Committee that the drainage easement won't be necessary because the plans include a retaining pond that will handle future drainage.

The Planning Commission will vote Tuesday on whether to recommend vacation of the easement, and then the Decatur City Council would vote on the request.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.