In The News

New Hilton to bring jobs, hotel rooms to Butler County

July 9, 2013  |  hotel rooms to Butler County, New Hilton to bring jobs

By Amanda Seitz , JOURNAL NEWS

WEST CHESTER TWP. —

A Dayton-based hotel developer broke ground Monday in Butler County on a Hilton Garden Inn that is expected to bring more than 50 jobs to the area.

The 125-room hotel isn’t slated to open until next summer, but Monday’s groundbreaking at 9306 Schulze Drive in West Chester Twp. is a sign of promise for the local economy, said Mark Hecquet, the director for the Butler County’s Visitors Bureau.

Once it opens, the Hilton Garden Inn will be West Chester Twp.’s 11th hotel and it’s one of just a handful of lodges to be constructed in the county during the last five years, he added.

“It’s been pretty slow with the addition of new hotels,” Hecquet said. “Obviously, (the Hilton Garden Inn) is a positive sign for the growth of West Chester. Hilton is a new brand that we don’t have in West Chester.”

Hecquet said he believes the hotel chain could attract corporate employees, who regularly use the Hilton brand, to West Chester Twp. Although the Hilton Garden Inn will be a first for West Chester Twp., the new lodge will be located among a strip of hotels, including a Marriott and Hampton Inn, near Union Centre Boulevard.

Those string of hotels mean more money for local entities: hotels pay state, county and local lodging tax. Last year, the county picked up $1 million in hotel tax revenue, and West Chester Twp. took in nearly $800,000. The Butler County Visitor’s Bureau takes a roughly $950,000 share of worth of hotel tax revenue annually, Hecquet said.

West Chester Twp. officials haven’t estimated how much more in tax revenue the new Hilton branch will mean for the area, but the extra cash will likely go to the township’s general fund, according to Barb Wilson, the director of multimedia and marketing for West Chester Twp.

The Hilton Garden Inn will also mean anywhere from 50 to 60 new jobs for the area, said Neil Patel, general counsel for KB Hotel Group, which is developing the Hilton branch in West Chester Twp. Some of those jobs will be created from the hotel’s restaurant that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, he said.

Other amenities in the hotel will include a swimming pool, workout facility as well as a conference center and ballroom that can hold as many as 300 people.

“We’ve already got inquiries for weddings,” Patel said. “The demand is already here.”

West Chester Twp.’s Hilton will be the ninth hotel KB Hotel Group has developed in the Greater Cincinnati, Dayton and Indiana areas, Patel said. The developers opened up a Hampton Inn in Middletown last month. This hotel will be the most high-end of the bunch, Patel said.

Despite the corridor of hotel competitors his group will have to contend with, he believes the growing number of retail businesses and office space in the area merits a new hotel.

“Development is happening here in West Chester,” Patel said. “It’s an up-and-coming market.”

Patel said the construction budget for the hotel has not been finalized.