Torgerson Plans Two Hotels In Twin Cities Suburb
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, May 1, 2006. A Willmar-based hotel developer is building two hotels in Maple Grove, his third and fourth there, and intends to redefine the northwestern Twin Cities suburb as a destination for families and business travelers, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
Tom Torgerson, owner of Torgerson Properties Inc., said this week he has inked a deal with Opus Northwest to develop a 115-room high-end Courtyard by Marriott hotel in the Fountains of Arbor Lakes. Last year, he announced plans for a 136-room Holiday Inn with a water park on an adjacent site, also in the Fountains project.
Torgerson planted his stake in Arbor Lakes so he could capitalize on the building boom there. In the past five years, almost 2 million square feet of retail space has been built nearby. Within a few blocks of the new hotels, there are at least a dozen restaurants, a movie theater and a soon-to-open Dave and Buster's restaurant, bar and entertainment center. Businesses travelers are generated by fast-growing companies such as Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Upsher-Smith and ev3.
The Courtyard by Marriott, which will open in early 2008, is designed for business travelers. It will cost about $150,000 per room to develop, about 50% more than typical suburban Courtyards, Torgerson said. That translates into about $150-per-night room rates.
The project includes most features of a full-service Marriott, except for fewer rooms and less meeting space. It will include a full-service restaurant and bar and provide room service. All rooms will have LCD TVs and electronic boxes that allow travelers to hook their computers and iPods into the TV system.
"It is not your daddy's Courtyard," Torgerson told the newspaper. H e added that Marriott International Inc., which owns the Courtyard brand, gave Torgerson its franchise with the understanding that this is a custom project and may be used as a "guinea pig" for future developments.
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