Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – BLD Hospitality announced this week the Hampton Inn hotel, to be located at 768 Main St. in Presque Isle, is currently under construction, with an expected completion date of July 2009. Travelers heading north on Main St. may have noticed progress being made at the former site of the National Guard Armory, the future home of the Hampton Inn. The hotel will include 93 rooms and four suites. Ground work has begun and work will continue, weather permitting, throughout coming months to ensure the job is completed on schedule.
Emerald Hospitality Associates, which manages hotels throughout Ohio, New York, Maine, South Carolina and Florida, has been selected to manage the property. Officials believe the hotel will be the right fight for the community and Aroostook County.
“Hampton is an ideal lodging product for the Presque Isle market,” said Edward Pavente, Emerald Hospitality director of operations for New York and New England hotels. “Business and leisure travelers visiting the area will enjoy the same high-quality services and amenities they have come to associate with the Hampton name.”
When completed, the new Hampton Inn will employ 25-30 people.
“The hotel will offer an indoor pool, whirlpool, fitness room, business center and meeting facilities for 75-80 people, as well as a board room for 12 people,” said Pavente.
Pavente indicated the hotel will focus on an enhanced experience for its guests.
“The complete implementation of the Hampton bedding package entitled ‘Cloud Nine, The Hampton Experience’ in its more than 1,500 Hampton hotels is the most recent innovation as part of the hotel chain’s Make It Hampton product enhancement initiative, which is the most extensive transformation ever undertaken by a hotel brand, dramatically enhancing the guest experience across all of its hotels,” said Pavente.
Since January 2004, Make It Hampton has debuted new products and services ranging from complimentary On the House hot breakfast and On the Run breakfast bags, Purity Basics bath products and a curved shower rod, complimentary high-speed Internet access and the industry’s easiest-t-set alarm clock/radio.
City officials welcome the new addition and the jobs it will bring to the community.
“It will be a great addition to Presque Isle, as well as the entire county,” said Larry Clark, executive director of the Presque Isle Industrial Council.
Plans are to locate the hotel toward the back of the lot, which measures roughly 5 acres, with the front portion of the lot developed for either retail space, a restaurant or similar business.
Hampton, which includes Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels, is a mid-priced leader in the lodging segment. Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, a leading global hospitality company with more than 2,900 hotels and 500,000 rooms in more than 80 countries, including 105,000 team members worldwide.
