Groundbreaking For New Hotel In Novi

NOVI (WWJ) - A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday for a new Hyatt Place hotel in Novi.  The hotel will be part of the Suburban Collection Showplace Banquet and Convention Center.

Blair Bowman, the President and owner of the Suburban Collection Showplace, said that the hotel will bring the showplace more convention business that would otherwise pass by them.

"When a meeting planner would check boxes, as it relates to communities that they would consider for meetings and events, they would come to our facility (because) we have all the other things," said Bowman.  "(We have) all the amenities, all the meeting space, all the good expedition areas, the parking, (and) location but we don't have an on-site hotel."

Without the hotel, Bowman said the convention center was responsible for a half billion dollars in direct economic impact.

"The estimates are – with the addition of the new hotel space, the additional meeting space and the new major conventions and conferences that we already have booked frankly, and those we are planning on attracting – that (direct economic impact will) increase by over a quarter of a billion dollars to almost three-quarters of a billion dollars annually ..." said Bowman.

Bowman says other area hotels will also benefit from any customer overflow.  There will also be an expansion of the existing Diamond Banquet and Conference Center.  The new expansion will offer an additional 9,260 sq. ft. of meeting space and 5,600 sq. ft. of ballroom space.

Plans are for the six-story, 126-unit Hyatt Place to open in July of 2013.