New hotel to rise near KC’s Country Club Plaza

More than three years after a 96-room, four-story hotel was announced for a prominent location northwest of the Country Club Plaza, site preparation finally is underway.

Sanjay Patel, president of MHG Hotels, said the $16 million project should be ready for guests in 16 months.

MHG, an Indianapolis-based developer of hotel properties, is building a SpringHill Suites by Marriott on an acre of cleared land at 45th Street between the Madison and Belleview lanes of the Southwest Trafficway.

The hotel, which will include a two-level parking garage beneath the rooms, replaces seven houses and a small business building that were razed after obtaining rezoning in 2013.

Patel said Monday that his company was diverted on other hotel projects around the country between then and now, which caused other sites to move ahead of the construction line for the Kansas City hotel.

The delay helped push the initial price estimate substantially higher — from $9 million announced three years ago to the current $16 million cost.

The Kansas City hotel is being built without any tax breaks.

“No incentives at all,” Patel said. “It was just a domino effect from our other projects that delayed the Kansas City project.”

Patel said the construction timeline will be two or three months longer for this property than for most similar hotels because of “topography challenges.” The site has a steep elevation change between Madison and Belleview and has a limestone base.

The entrance to the hotel and garage is designed to be on 45th Street to ease traffic problems on the trafficway. Plans indicated the hotel will have an indoor swimming pool and breakfast buffet but no restaurant or bar.

Crossland Construction, which recently completed the dual Marriott Residence Inn and Courtyard Hotel at 16th and Baltimore, is heading the Springhill Suites construction team.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 2:11 PM with the headline "New hotel to rise near KC’s Country Club Plaza."