Central Michigan University’s proposed Holiday Inn hotel development plan is in its final stages of approval.

Tom Trionfi, director of Contracting and Purchasing Services, said the university sent its last draft of the project’s lease and affiliation agreements to attorneys from Lodgco Management LLC, the hotel’s developer, last week.

“Our goal would be to have something we can sign by the first part of next week or by Thanksgiving,”

Trionfi said.

He said recent weeks of negotiations for the project have centered around the number of internships it will generate, the amount of acreage CMU will lease and stipulations over what insurance the hotel will need to comply with university risk-management policies.

Specifics on acreage and internships for the Holiday Inn project, which will be located in the Center of Applied Research and Technology, will not be made available until everything is finalized, Trionfi said.

CMU’s Board of Trustees gave University President Michael Rao full authority at its July 17 meeting to sign a lease with Lodgco. Rao has yet to approve the project.

Eileen Jennings, general counsel, said Rao will still have to look the contract over before a final decision is made on anything.

“Tom is confident, and so am I, that what is in there is what the president wants,” Jennings said.

Michael Smith, Lodgco’s president and CEO, said attorneys for the developer are currently reviewing the lease, but designs and drawings for the project have been in the works for months.

He said he hopes to break ground on the project by mid-spring and have construction near completion within 12 months.

“We were open to a fall groundbreaking, but it’s actually worked out fantastic for us,” Smith said.

Hotel plans

Smith said plans for the Holiday Inn include an interior restaurant, though specifics on what it will be are still undetermined.

“We are entertaining outside restaurant franchises, like (T.G.I.) Friday’s, and are still in talks with competing restaurants who are interested,” he said.

Jennings said the project’s complexities have prevented progressions from happening any quicker.

“My understanding is that we are extremely close to finalizing but keep coming up with one more thing we want to clarify,” Jennings said. “It’s a very complex lease and contract, and we are trying to make absolutely sure that the academic linkages are what we want. We don’t want to have a lease and get a year into this and not have a real meeting of the minds.”

She said both the developer and CMU are fully committed to seeing the project to its completion.

“There are always little details because we changed the configuration of land we are going to lease,” Jennings said.

The original plan called for a 12-acre parcel lease in the CART.

Jennings said the developer postponed an office building that was originally part of the development project, decreasing the number of acres planned for lease. Jennings declined to elaborate on the specific number of acres.

“My understanding is that they decided to go ahead with the hotel and delay the office building. The developers say they expect to come back in a couple years to build the office complex,” she said.

Jobs and internships

While the Holiday Inn will provide great internship opportunities for students, Smith said, it will open the door to several job positions near campus.

He anticipated 50 percent of employees would be student-based.

“We want to take advantage of having students to provide them with opportunities. They tend to be go-getters and do good work,” he said.

Smith said the university has requested up to 24 internship positions, though the exact number of students who participate each semester will depend on how many CMU can provide.

The project is Lodgco’s first on a university’s property, although its hotel sites in both Midland and Lansing employ college students, he said.

“We want to work together to make sure it is a good program for both sides, for Central and for us,” Smith said.

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E-mail the author: Heidi Fenton