LYNNWOOD
A developer wants to build two hotels near Alderwood mall, but competitors are challenging the plans.
Legacy Hospitality, a hotel management and development company, proposes to build a six-story 130-room Garden Inn and six-story, 120-room Homewood Suites hotel on 3 acres off of Alderwood Mall Parkway, less than a block north of Alderwood mall.
Two vacant houses would be demolished to make room for the hotels, which would share a new underground parking garage.
Both are part of Hilton Hotels, which also operates the Embassy Suites Hotel in Lynnwood.
That proposal, however, is being challenged by owners of the Residence Inn, 18200 Alderwood Mall Parkway, which is across the street from the proposed hotels, and Hampton Inn, 19324 Alderwood Mall Parkway.
Hotel owners 360 Degree Design Group Ltd. and Innkeepers USA argue in their appeal that environmental impacts haven’t been fully addressed and cite concerns with the project’s design.
A hearing examiner is scheduled to consider the appeals at 9 a.m. Thursday, at City Hall, 19100 44th Ave. W.
David Kleitsch, Lynnwood’s economic development director, said the hotels would fill a critical need for more rooms.
A hotel has not been built in Lynnwood since 2000, according to Smith Travel Research, which provides statistics for the lodging industry. During the same period, 1,190 new hotel rooms have opened in Snohomish County.
Two other new hotels, a Holiday Inn off of 196th Street Southwest near the Old Spaghetti Factory and a new hotel on Highway 99, will add another 180 rooms to Lynnwood’s supply, Kleitsch said.
“We’re excited about it because it reverses that market-share problem we have,” Kleitsch said.
Faizel Kassam, managing member of Legacy Hospitality, said his family-owned company chose Lynnwood recognizing there’s a need for more hotel rooms and because of the location, which is close to the junction of I-405 and I-5.
Hilton Garden should offer some of the amenities of a full-service hotel but the restaurant and meeting rooms won’t be open to the general public, he said.
Homewood Suites focuses on longer stays and offers larger rooms with full kitchens.
Guests to both hotels will share dining facilities.
City officials said they’ve worked out an arrangement with the developer that opens the door to eventually connect Beech Road to Ash Way, part of a long-range plan to ease congestion along Alderwood Mall Parkway.
Oscar Halpert writes for the Herald of Everett.
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