Arvada is the seventh-largest city in Colorado and a growing hub for both manufacturing and retail. But it has not been able to brag of having any full-service hotels within its boundaries — until Wednesday, that is.
The 139-room Hilton Garden Inn will welcome its first guests, giving the western suburb of Denver a lodging facility with 2,500 square feet of meeting space just two blocks from its flourishing Olde Town downtown area. The opening comes after city leaders conducted multiple feasibility studies showing that such a hotel was needed, only to have trouble nailing down the right partner on the right property to move ahead.
Ultimately, Renascent Hospitality, a hotel-ownership and -management company responded to a request for proposals to build a location at 5455 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. Arvada city and economic-development officials say it could add a major arrow to their quiver as they try to attract more companies to expand into the city with the promise that they now have a nearby location where business partners can stay — one, just blocks from a planned RTD light-rail stop, to boot.
“There are many, many businesses that have come to us and said: ‘Where are my clients and my customers and my contractors supposed to stay when they stop in Arvada?’” said Ryan Stachelski, executive director of the Arvada Economic Development Association. “Being able to attract a hotel here really is a retention issue.”
Leaders with the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority made the deal particularly possible by acquiring the property and then being able to work with Renascent on building on it. But Renascent officials also took the leap that others before them did not.
Jim Burkett, an official with the Columbus, Ohio company and the inaugural general manager for the Hilton Garden Inn, said he sees three strong sub-sectors of visitors to the hotel. He can draw corporate travelers who have business in town or as far away as Wheat Ridge or Broomfield, he said. He can use the space, which can accommodate parties of as many as 190 people, as a home for weddings and reunions. And it can be a local lodging option for the soccer, baseball and softball teams that come into town for tournaments at a nearby sports complex.
