Extended stay: Hotel planned for Regal Seminole property

Although recent hostelries, such as the Marriott at West Main and Ridge or the Landmark on the Downtown Mall, have stalled, the odds for a Homewood Suites on the Regal Cinema property at Seminole Square seem much better.

For one, a hotel is already a by-right use for the 6.5-acre parcel. That means no rezoning or special use permits, which always slow development projects down.

And because it's located behind Kmart on India Road and not directly in an entrance corridor, new owners Heritage Hospitality Management of Staunton don't even need to go before the Board of Architectural Review, according to city planner Michael Smith.

The property has long been in the path of the Hillsdale Drive Connector, which was supposed to slice through the theaters of the previous occupant, Regal Seminole Square.

Regal shut its doors at that location late last year when the glitzy new Regal Stonefield 14 opened across U.S. 29.

Heritage Hospitality Management already has a foothold in Charlottesville with the Hilton Garden Inn on U.S. 250 east. Extended stay Homewood Suites is another Hilton brand.

Plans filed with the city show a four-story, 149-room hotel comprising 1.1 million feet. Heritage Hospitality paid $3.25 million for the property, which is assessed at $4 million.

It's across the street from the Hampton Inn.

"We don't have a comment until we have a comment," says Heritage partner Scott Goldenberg. The company and extended-stay Homewood Suites is another Hilton brand.

or even construction has begun (the Landmark)