By: Madison Iszler | From: San Antonio Express-News

 

Another hotel is coming to downtown San Antonio.

 

Austin-based Merritt Development Group and Atlanta-based Peachtree Group plan to build a 10-story, 171-room hotel at East Commerce Street and North Main Avenue. The hotel, a Residence Inn by Marriott, will include meeting space, a cafe and a coffee shop, a document submitted to the city indicates. 

It is expected to cost $58 million, according to information from Merritt Development Group. The city’s Historic and Design Review Commission is expected to consider designs for the hotel later this month, with construction slated to begin during the third quarter and be completed in 2026.

“The hotel will benefit from its affiliation with one of the top hotel brand families and has been designed to appeal to both leisure and business travelers,” Merritt said in the city submission.

More than a half-dozen downtown hotels have been completed in recent years or are in the works. 

White Lodging just finished turning the 251-room Marriott Plaza hotel at South Alamo Street and César E. Chávez Boulevard into the 253-room Plaza San Antonio Hotel & Spa. The hospitality company is also constructing a 347-room Kimpton Hotel adjacent to the Plaza hotel. It’s expected to open in the fourth quarter.

Scarlett Hotel Group and IHG Hotels & Resorts are refashioning the Wyndham San Antonio on East Pecan Street into a 410-room luxury InterContinental Hotel, which also is expected to be complete late this year. Zachry Hospitality is building a 200-room hotel named the Monarch San Antonio at Hemisfair, which is scheduled to open in 2026.

Blueprint Hospitality plans to convert CPS Energy’s former headquarters on Navarro Street into an upscale hotel called El Portal. The Residence Inn will be adjacent to the former Riverview Towers office building, which was converted to an AC Hotel by Marriott and Element by Westin hotels in 2022.

Bright Lakes Real Estate is converting the Hedrick building at North St. Mary’s and East Martin streets to an extended-stay hotel.

The expanding supply will affect the occupancy rate. Hotels in the central business district had an occupancy rate of 62.1% at the end of 2023, up 5.1% from the same time a year earlier, according to commercial real estate data firm CoStar. The average daily rate for rooms was $186.13, down 0.6% during the same period.

Merritt has also been involved in the development of the Home2 Suites by Hilton and Canopy by Hilton downtown, according to its website.

It also is working on a Residence Inn hotel at East Grayson and North Alamo streets near Pearl with Phoenix Development Partners, and a W Hotel and office building at Broadway and Newell Avenue with GrayStreet Partners. GrayStreet managing partner Kevin Covey has said progress on the mixed-use building has been held up by financing difficulties and declining demand in the wake of the pandemic.

Peachtree has developed, acquired or provided financing for several hotels in San Antonio as well, according to its website.

Merritt and Peachtree did not respond to inquiries.