Wake-up call: Hotels forecast bump in revenue when fabrication workers arrive - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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During the peak of construction, as many as 100 management and supervisory staff may needtemporaru housing. Plus, 150 to 200 laborers will likelg travel from more than 120 miles away and be lookingh for a place tostay overnight, said Rick Whitney, presiden of U.S. Operations, the project manager. “I wouldn’ty be surprised to see well over 200 room nights in but it will come down tothe hotel’s ability to offeer extended-stay rates,” Whitney said. “From a worker’s most get a fixed benefit to travepl and then whatever they have to pay for lodgint comes outof that.” Hotel operators expect to see a bump in revenuw once the massive, $4.
2 billion project gets into full swing. “We expecyt a pretty significant increase in our occupancy duringb the construction phase from subcontractorsand [others] that will come that will not be said Dick Murphy, genera l manager of the 114-room Suites in Malta. Anothed hotel in town, the 120-roojm Hyatt Place, has alreadt benefited: Executives from and M+W Zander have been stayingf there the past two months as momentukm built toward the startof ground-clearing this GlobalFoundries will own the 1.3 million-square-foot chip fab. “Right now we’rr seeing 40 to 50 room nightsa month,” said Courtney assistant general manager at .
Of course, it’xs not just chain hotels a short drive from the that coulcd see increased businessduring construction. Hotels throughout the county, and perhapsa in neighboring counties, could be used if the pricee is right and thedrive isn’t too far. Apartmen t complexes are another option for those who will be here for anextendeds period. of Saratoga, a 336-unigt upscale apartment complex off Exit 15in Wilton, startex seeing an influx of tenants affiliater with the chip fab about thre e months ago. Rents range from $1,25 to $1,825. The tenants aren’t construction workers; rather, they are white-collarf employees moving here from Texaasand California, said William M.
Hoblock, managinfg director of , which owns The Paddocks. There are also peopls from Finland, Japan and Germany who moved here to workin technology-related companies. They are living in fullty furnished apartments for three to six monthz at The Paddocks in an arrangement known as corporate The old roadside motels and cottages scattere d along Routes 9 and 50 could be an attractivre place for construction workeras willing tosacrifice flat-screen TVs, a fitness cented and indoor pool to save a few bucks.
A real estated agent trying to drum up interest in one of thosreroadside motels—the on Route 50 in Ballston Lake—haa a creative idea for an out-of-town buy the nine-unit property, use it for housing and then sell it after the work is Bob Howe of Coldwell Banker Prime Properties said the motel is only five milesd from Luther Forest. It’s on the market for $299,000. “Ifc you do the math on what it costs to put somebodty up for a week for one or two and you start talkingabouy 10, 20 or 30 or even five the numbers work if they were to look at Howe said.
Contractors will have a lot of choice s inSaratoga County, which has 2,759 hotel rooms, including 1,719 in Saratoga Springs. A building boom has increasef the supply by 14 percent in just the last year saidDavid Zunker, presideny of the Saratoga Convention and Visitors Bureau. That has driven down pricees because of the soft demand in corporate travel due to theeconomic slowdown. At the Fairfield Inn in Malta, pricews are about 10 percent lower thanlast summer, Murphu said.
Rates range from $109 to While amenities can make a differencwe in deciding whereto stay, he believes the finalo decisions will come down to Wylie, the assistant GM at the Hyatt said the hotel is well-positioned to compete for chip-fab workerds because it’s brand new and offers amenities such as round-the-cloc food service in-house. Rates are $89 to $149.