New Hotel in Lakewood: City Gets Two Applicants for Feasibility Study

The city of Lakewood received two submissions from consultants looking to conduct a feasibility study on whether a hotel could work in the city.

One of the applicants is Lakewood-based Hotel & Leisure Advisors, which volunteered in the early phase of the discussions to provide feedback. 

The other applicant is CH Johnson Consulting, based out of Chicago.

Lakewood is looking into whether it could attract a hotel to the city. 

But first, city officials want to know if it could work.

“There’s been a lot of discussion anecdotally about the need for a new hotel in the center of the city,” Dru Siley, the city’s director of planning and development, told Lakewood Patch. “Instead of guessing, we need to do a hard-line analysis.”

The deadline for proposals was Sept. 17.

In August, city hall’s planning and development department issued a request for proposals that invited “qualified consultants to gather data, analyze and develop a feasibility study to evaluate the community’s potential for further development in the hotel and leisure industry.”

Hotel & Leisure Advisors in its submission noted that it had “performed market analyses of more than 1,000 hotels and resorts in more than 50 states and provinces” since 1987.

CH Johnson Consulting noted in its application that it “has extensive expertise in hotel analysis, especially those with unique characteristics.”

(Both applications are attached at the right)

Here’s some of what the city was looking for in its request for proposal:

In addition to traditional drivers of occupancy, such as business travel during the week we would be interested in the impact of non-traditional sources:

• weddings
• funerals
• family visiting relatives at the hospital or senior care facilities
• youth sports tournaments
• events at our Civic Theater
• the trend towards staycations and quaint getaways over bustling tourist traps
• and the return to walkable, authentic communities

In July, city council unanimously OK’d spending $7,000 — from the city’s economic development fund — on a feasibility study.

Ward 3 city councilman Shawn Juris, who first pitched the idea to council in April, has been active on a committee that's been looking into the proposal for a few months.

The group talked about capitalizing on some of the development in downtown Cleveland — think casino and Medical Mart — as well as the development along Detroit Avenue in Lakewood.

A review committee — made up of Juris, Siley, Diane Helbig, representing the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce and Rick Beisel, representing the Lakewood City Schools — met Monday afternoon to discuss the submissions.

The committee reviewed several criteria, including the firms’ work experience, references and anticipated schedules.