The City of Northfield will soon welcome a new business to town – a Fairfield Inn & Suites Marriott Hotel! With the recent approval on the site plan and development agreement by the City of Northfield, the project will continue to move forward.
Rebound Hospitality (a branch of Rebound Enterprises) will serve as one of the project’s developers, bringing in Bluewater Properties to assist in the development of the surrounding area and property management. Brett Reese of Rebound comments, “We’re very excited about a Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites at The Crossings. It’s a great location for the hotel.” The river location serves as a gateway from the north and into downtown, and sits near the colleges and Northfield’s downtown.
Big Plans For Northfield
If all goes as planned, construction for the 80 room hotel is scheduled to begin in September of 2016, with a grand opening in May the following year. Interested in what the process will look like? Follow along with Rebound Hospitality’s mirror project in Decorah, Iowa. Construction at that site is planned to begin in July of 2016.
Why bring a Marriott to Northfield? Reese explains growing demand for more rooms in Northfield. “The Northfield Economic Development Authority completed a market study that showed we have a shortage of rooms in Northfield, and we need at least 60 more rooms in Northfield.”
Why Marriott?
Rebound Hospitality set their sights on a Marriott hotel to fill the need. Since its inception, Marriott was led by the Marriott family-, until they called in Arne Sorenson to be their newest CEO and President. Sorenson brought experience as a lawyer; director of a major corporation; and as Executive Vice President, COO, and CFO of Marriott.
Sorenson graduated from Luther College just a year before Reese, so when Reese reached out regarding developing a site in the hometown of their alma mater (Decorah), the choice was easy. The Northfield site proved a natural follow-up, since Reese does much of his business here, and Sorenson’s wife (a Decorah native) graduated from St. Olaf College.
The opportunity for college acquaintances to develop their local economies did not go unnoticed. Reese comments, “It’s pretty exciting that Marriott hotels are being developed in the towns of Arne and Ruth Sorenson’s Alma Maters. Arne is a great, wonderful man, and I’m excited to have hooked up with him and the Marriott Corporation to be developing and operating Fairfield’s in these communities.”
The Process
Building a Marriott wasn’t a simple road, though. Reese explains, “We had to go through a rigorous application process, just like anyone else, to be sure Northfield will meet the standards of Marriott. We filed lots of documents and interviewed at the corporate headquarters in Washington D.C in January for the Decorah Fairfield.”
Reese fully believes the Marriott will prove beneficial to Northfield and its residents. “It’s going to have a significant impact on business commerce in Northfield because it’s an economic driver. People who are not from Northfield will be staying here and spending money in our town.”
Sights Set On Growth
The developer is hopeful the new hotel will spur future development in The Crossings and around Northfield. As the number of rooms available increases, Northfield will be able to host more guests for specialty events, such as tournaments.
A Marriott hotel is a unique addition to Northfield’s local businesses, even in comparison to existing lodging. “We hope it’s going to complement and add to the existing lodging,” says Reese. The hotel will meet the growing demand for rooms in Northfield and target a different group of patrons than lodging such as the Archer House.
Overall, Reese looks forward to the economic potential of this new business. He reflects on his experience thus far, “We had a really positive experience working with the City of Northfield, all the way from the staff to the planning commission to the EDA, council, and mayor. The staff represented the city well in their working with us.”
Stay tuned for more updates as Northfield’s newest business continues to grow and develop!
Pictured: CEO and President Arne Sorenson, Todd Byhre, Brett Reese, Jennifer Sawyer, and two Vice Presidents of Marriott.
