Andrew W. Griffin
The Norman Transcript

A virtual hotel building boom is taking place in Norman and it's got many people excited.

At the Norman Convention -- Visitors Bureau, Sherri Rogers said a Hilton Garden Inn is expected to "open any day now," a Courtyard by Marriott is scheduled to open in November, Comfort Inn and Suites is scheduled to open in August and an Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center is scheduled to open Oct. 1, a month into the University of Oklahoma football season.

Rogers said the La Quinta Inn and Suites on Ed Noble Parkway opened a decade ago, and the last hotels to open in the area were a Value Place, in the northern part of Norman, and a 55-room Best Western Norman Inn and Suites, which opened recently on Classen Boulevard, just north of State Highway 9.

"We went for many, many years where we didn't have any new hotels," Rogers said. "But now, in the last year we've seen a major, major boom in the hotel industry."

While OU football is certainly a big draw in the fall, Rogers said, Norman has businesses like the Johnson Controls plant, the National Weather Center and the Postal Training Center that draw plenty of people to Norman as well and many of them require accommodations.

"Norman's growing by leaps and bounds," Rogers said. "We're thrilled to have a convention center ... it gives us another tool in our tool chest."

Rogers continued, noting Norman is a "small community with the amenities of a big city" and that the city is essentially at the "crossroads of America."

An Amateur Athletic Union basketball tourney is planned for this summer and Rogers anticipates more organizers will consider Norman as a place to hold their event. To get the word out, Rogers expects to get involved in an advertising blitz. He also plans on visiting surrounding states in order to spread the word about Norman and its increase in hotel rooms.

Dena Jones, regional manager for Champion Hotels in Oklahoma City, which is building and managing the 73-room Comfort Inn -- Suites and the 113-room Courtyard by Marriott, said her company is pleased to be part of the building boom.

"We're really excited to be part of the growth going on in Norman," Jones said.
Both hotels are opening in north Norman along Interstate 35, Sara Furr, spokesperson for Embassy Suites Norman, said the hotel and conference center is "still right on target with an October opening" at its location at 2501 Conference Drive, just north of Robinson Street and near the Super Target.

During the interview, the construction crew was tarring the roof of the conference center. Inside carpeting was being laid.

"This is going to have a huge impact on the Norman economy," Furr said, of the hotel and the conference center, adding, "We'll give the city an opportunity to pull in traffic that they may not have had before."

Among the amenities will be 283 two-room suites with separate living rooms and bedrooms, high-speed Internet access, a wet bar and more.

Embassy Suites Norman has 10 signed contracts from organizations planning to have events at the facility, Furr said.

In addition, the hotel will have an upscale bar and restaurant.

"On game day it'll be the place to be," Furr said.

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