Hammons Hotels expands into Utah

First up will be a 10-story, 300-room Embassy Suites with an adjoining 100,000-square-foot convention center. Construction will begin in June and should be complete by October 2008, according to a John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts LLC news release.

The hotel will span 37 acres at the base of Mount Timpanogos and will be adjacent to a planned 1 million-square-foot outdoor shopping and entertainment center.

Hammons’ second Pleasant Grove property will be a 10-story, 220-room Courtyard by Marriott, for which construction is slated to begin in 2008. A 2009 opening is planned.

When operational, the hotels together are expected to create the equivalent of 350 to 400 full-time jobs, according to the release.

Hammons will own both properties, and they will be managed by Springfield-based Hammons Hotels.

Pleasant Grove is a short distance from Salt Lake City, and the hotels will be situated close to Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College and Salt Lake City International Airport. Also nearby are popular ski areas, as well as business headquarters for Novell, Nu Skin, Altiris and IM Flash.

The Embassy Suites and Courtyard hotels will be Hammons’ first foray into Utah.

“The time is right to build upscale accommodations to meet the demand of the impressive growth being experienced by Utah County,” Hammons said in the release. “We foresee that growth continuing and requiring an additional hotel property beyond our initial plans.”