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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.
Ballantine Management Group had previously touted a fall 2003 opening date for a 115,000-square-foot convention center there. Thomas Ballantine, president of BMG, could not be reached for comment, but Silver said the center is still in the engineering phase.
"Those plans are a little further behind [than the hotel]," Silver said.
But a proposal to build an equestrian center on the Stafford County side of the project is moving along, he said.
The Israeli family that will open the center has moved to the Fredericksburg area and started renovating a small house that will house staff on the property, Silver said. He said the center would primarily serve tourists by providing horses, equipment and trails for riding, but would also have some programs and facilities for local riders.
Progress is more visible on the Stafford side of the project, where the Cannon Ridge golf course is planning to open on July 16. And Stafford County supervisors agreed last week to a zoning change that would let the developer put retirement homes in the complex.
On the city side, work on roads and infrastructure is getting under way.
The spring's wet weather has caused some delays in the construction of the extension of Carl D. Silver Parkway, which will serve as the main road through the development. The city is reviewing a site plan for a large chunk of that thoroughfare and some smaller side roads.
That plan and the approved hotel plan call for the Silver Cos. to spend nearly $4.5 million on road construction, water, sewer and other improvements in Celebrate Virginia South.
Naggs said the hefty investment in infrastructure, without many announced tenants, is typical in a commercial development of Celebrate Virginia's size.
He said the Silver Cos. used the same approach in its Central Park retail complex, which will neighbor Celebrate Virginia. Silver agreed that it's a common practice.
"We do that on all our projects," he said.