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Celebrate Virginia's developer moving forward with infrastructure, planned hotels and equestrian center Date published: 7/6/2003
Rain has slowed progress at Celebrate Virginia, but the tourism complex is moving forward. The Silver Cos., Celebrate Virginia's Fredericksburg-based developer, recently submitted a revised site plan for the first hotel on the Fredericksburg side of the project and a plan for roads and infrastructure. An equestrian center also is in the works for the north side of the project in Stafford County. The development stretches over 1,200 acres along the Rappahannock River. The Silver Cos. announced contracts on two hotel franchises, a Hilton Garden Inn and a Hampton Inn, at a meeting with the City Council in January. Fredericksburg Building and Development Services Director Mike Naggs said his department recently approved a site plan for the Hilton Garden Inn, revised from a plan for the two hotels approved a year ago. The updated drawings show a 90,000-square-foot building with 150 rooms and 160 parking spaces. It will be on 5.3 acres visible from Interstate 95, just south of the existing Virginia Welcome Center. Silver Cos. Chief Executive Officer Larry Silver said he expects construction on the inn to begin in the fall and be completed a year after that. A spokeswoman for Hilton could not be reached for comment, but the company's Web site bills its Garden Inn line as "four-star lodging at a three-star price." There are approximately 160 in the country. Silver said the Hampton Inn, another Hilton brand, is still being planned to open in 2007, the same year the National Slavery Museum is slated to be completed nearby. But he said he expects to have at least two other hotels up and running in the development before then. "My guess is we will have between 450 and 500 new hotel rooms by the time the Hampton Inn opens, including the Hampton Inn," he said. The hotels will be clustered next to I-95, he said, between the welcome center and the Fall Hill Avenue overpass. Silver said he is talking with other chains, including one that provides extended-stay suites geared toward business travelers and families. The Silver Cos. has not yet submitted any building plans for Celebrate Virginia South, Naggs said.
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