The University of Connecticut is looking for a private developer to build a hotel on university-owned property near Storrs Center.
UConn published a “Request for Expressions of Interest” (RFEI) asking for proposals. The school is hoping to find a developer to build a hotel with about 100 rooms at the corner of Route 195 and South Eagleville Road, the current site of the Mansfield Apartments.
The RFEI states that UConn would plan to lease out the property to the developer, and that the hotel would operate as a privately-owned facility unaffiliated with the school.
The Mansfield Apartments, which were built in the 1950s, are currently student housing. The current plan is to stop offering the apartments as a housing option ahead of the fall 2018 semester, and demolishing the building to make way for new construction.
UConn officials said a hotel at the location would be a benefit to the university and the community, and boost the current development at nearby Storrs Center.
“Every university of our size and every downtown like the one we have in Storrs should have access to a good hotel,” said Scott Jordan, UConn’s executive vice president for administration and chief financial officer, in a press release.
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UConn currently owns the Nathan Hale Inn, which opened in 2001 and was purchased by the school in 2015. About half the rooms in the hotel are used as student housing, and the remainder operate as a hotel. With a new hotel constructed, the school would convert the entire hotel to housing.
The university is open to proposals to develop the entire site, or just to build the hotel. If a developer only wants to build the hotel, the school will look for other developers to fill the remainder of the site.
For more information on the plans, click here. http://today.uconn.edu/2017/05/uconn-inviting-hotel-proposals-private-sector/
