The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Madison Village breaks ground
Holiday Inn Express and Suites coming to interchange
Madison Village officials just broke ground on a new project near the Interstate 90/state Route 528 interchange that will be home to an 81-room lodging facility.
The future site of Holiday Inn Express and Suites, 181 Water Tower Drive, will encompass 4 acres, at least two of which will be occupied by the hotel, itself, according to the plan at hand.
“This has been in the works for at least three years and three months,” Madison Village Administrator Dwayne Bailey said in a phone interview Aug. 30. “A couple weeks after I started (working as the village administrator) I got a call from one of the principals (involved in the hotel development) and it’s been something we’ve been working on ever since.”
One of those principals, Samir Gandhi with Madison Real Estate Partners, said he was i mpressed early on with the enthu- siasm Madison Village exhibited even before his outfit began to consider the site for development.
“It’s good,” he said in an Aug. 30 phone interview, adding that he and his company did a lot of its own legwork to make sure it was a viable lodging option.
“I have a friend from up in that area,” said Gandhi, a Solon-area native who has helped develop hotels from here to Cincinnati. “And he asked me to look at (this market). I did and, I think it’s a unique opportunity.”
Gandhi said he did his own fea sibilit y studies and, afterward, was confident the location, timing and demographic have all come together at the right place and at the right time.
He said the combination of the area’s wineries and the Spire Institute and its connection with out-oftown visitors have helped make the placement of the new hotel a no-brainer.
Bailey confirmed the venue plans to offer shuttle service from the hotel to any of the many wineries located within 10 miles of it, along with trips into Madison Village proper.
“It’s a really nice destination,” he said. “From that exit on I-90, there are 20 wineries and a distill- ery within 10 miles.”
Madison Village Councilman Duane Frager, likewise, shared his enthusiasm for the new venue, calling it something he never saw coming in his tenure on village council.
“The story that everybody told, in the early days of my tenure on council, was that this was never going to happen any time soon,” Frager said in an Aug. 30 phone interview. “So I’m really excited that the spotlight is now shining on it.”
According to a media release from Madison Village, the project is a $10 million endeavor and will be constructed by Pride One Construction and financed by Geauga Savings Bank and Small Business Capital Corp.
If the weather cooperates, the venue will be up and running in fall 2018, Bailey, Frager and Gandhi confirmed.
“This has been in the works for at least three years and three months. A couple weeks after I started (working as the village administrator) I got a call from one of the principals (involved in the hotel development) and it’s been something we’ve been working on ever since.” — Madison Village Administrator Dwayne Bailey