[JoninATX]

White Lodging plans 300-room hotel in downtown Austin

By Shonda Novak | Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Less than a month after officially breaking ground on a 1,012-room convention hotel in downtown Austin, White Lodging Services Corp. is seeking a zoning change from the city to build a 300-room upscale hotel a few blocks away.

White Lodging, which is based in Indiana, plans to build the hotel on vacant land at the northeast corner of East Fifth Street and San Jacinto Boulevard. The land, comprising one-fourth of a block, has been owned for about 45 years by Austin lawyer Harry Whittington and other family members, Whittington said.

The hotel brand is expected to be announced soon, White Lodging officials said. The zoning change would allow a project of roughly 230,000 square feet, larger than what’s currently allowed.

“White Lodging has great confidence in the Austin market and believes there is an opportunity to develop an additional first-class, full-service hotel here,” said Deno Yiankes president and CEO of White Lodging’s investments and development division. “We look forward to communicating more details about this exciting project in the next 30 days.”

White Lodging is developing the proposed project in conjunction with its partner, REI Investments of Indianapolis.

There’s no word yet on when the project is expected to break ground or how tall it would be. White Lodging also has not disclosed the estimated cost of the project or any details about financing.

“We go before the (City of Austin’s) Planning Commission later this month and look forward to voluntary appearances at the Design Commission and Downtown Commission to share and get input,” said Richard Suttle Jr., White Lodging’s attorney in Austin.

Whittington said he and his family members will be joint owners in the project, and are contributing the land.

“We’re very pleased with the group we’ve contracted with,” Whittington said.”We feel they’re very capable, and good, responsible builders. They’ve had lot of experience in developing hotels in the country.”

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