Microtel hotel proposed for expanding Windsor commercial sports complex
A Windsor property owner is seeking permits to build a 91-room economy hotel near the Day Hill Dome indoor sports complex and alongside land already approved for a Holiday Inn Express.
The property on Day Hill Road would be part of a commercial recreation center that is gradually emerging on land that had once been shade tobacco fields.
Mark Greenberg Real Estate is proposing a four-story hotel at 675 Day Hill Rd., near the Baker Hollow Road intersection. If local planning officials give their approval, the project would become Microtel’s third Connecticut property after its Bethel and Uncasville locations.
Greenberg’s company is currently developing more than 40 acres in that section of town to create a destination recreation complex.
“There are approved plans for a hotel and recreational space. The recreational space is currently being developed into soccer fields. There will be one indoor soccer field known as the ‘Day Hill Dome,’“ according to the company. “There will also be outdoor fields with lights.”
A four-story, 106-room Holiday Inn Express was approved for 777 Day Hill Road just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The project languished for more than a year before developer Jignesh Patel asked the town in May of 2021 to approve a 120-room version instead.
Patel subsequently withdrew that request, though, and hasn’t constructed a hotel. At the time, the town’s planning and zoning commission extended his permits for the original version for a year and a half, and last month granted another extension through the spring of 2024.
The hotel Greenberg proposes would be under the Microtel brand, a budget-priced unit of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. Wyndham has more than 300 Microtels in the United States; the properties have rooms smaller than the hotel industry average, but offer free Wi-Fi and continental breakfast.
Wyndham promotes Microtel as the only all-new construction brand in the economy hotel market, and reports that most of its properties offer meeting spaces, fitness centers and pools.
Greenberg’s plan is for a hotel that would get some of the overnight business generated by the nearby Fastpitch Nation Park, which bills itself as the largest fastpitch softball facility in the Northeast. It reports hosting more than 4,000 teams playing more than 12,000 games since opening in 2019.
When it opens, the Day Hill Dome is expected to join Fastpitch Nation in producing thousands of overnight visits by families every year. Windsor is already home to Marriott as well as a Courtyard by Marriott, a Hilton Garden Inn and a Residence by Marriott, but those are geared chiefly to Bradley International Airport users as well as I-84 traffic.
Design plans call for 95,000 square feet of indoor field space along with natural grass and artificial turf fields outdoors. It will be rented to teams or leagues using the space for lacrosse, field hockey, football, baseball, ultimate frisbee, rugby or special events.
Fastpitch Nation’s website advises that the dome has been delayed.
“Unfortunately, the new dome project has been impacted by the worldwide supply chain crisis, like so many other construction projects. This means the new dome will not be open in time for this winter season and, unfortunately, we will not have our traditional winter leagues and tournaments for the 2022-23 winter season but they will resume for 2023-24 winter season,” Fastpitch National said.
According to plans submitted by Alford Associates, Greenberg’s engineering consultant, the new Microtel Inn & Suites would have an indoor pool, fitness center and breakfast area, along with a mix of rooms ranging from 233 to 399 square feet. But the documents are marked as nonbinding.
The commission will conduct a hearing on the zoning approval request on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at town hall.
