As a growing hotel chain is planning to build a new hotel next to Highway 99 in Ceres, another chain is proposing to build another hotel in the neighboring city of Turlock.
On Thursday evening the Turlock Planning Commission will review the Marriott Towneplace project, a four-story, 91-room hotel on a two-acre parcel located at N. Tully Road next to the existing Comfort Suites and Days Inn.
Turlock is already replete with a number of well-known hotel chains, including Candlewood Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Comfort Suites, Hampton Inn, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Days Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Motel 6 as well as other smaller hotels.
Woodspring Suites, an extended stay hotel, is expected to soon submit an application to build a four-story hotel in the Ceres Gateway Center at the southwest corner of Service and Mitchell roads.
The new Ceres hotel would occupy a two-acre site adjacent to the freeway. Christopher Hoem, director of Community Development for the city of Ceres, said the chain is looking at building 122 rooms on a 12,912 square foot ground floor footprint. Total square footage would be approximately 56,000 square feet.
Woodspring would be the third hotel in Ceres. Mictrotel Inn & Suites and Howard Johnson Inn are located on the freeway frontage road.
“I’m looking forward to presenting the proposal to the Planning Commission,” said Hoem.
Woodspring has nearly 300 hotels nationwide but is not well known in California where there are four locations. They are located in Bakersfield where there are two, and in Colton, Norco and Redlands. The chain was founded as Value Place in 2003 but rebranded to Woodspring in April 2015. Their website notes that: “Instead of booking on a nightly basis like a traditional hotel, our guests tend to book with us for a week, month, or longer. Since we have less turnover, we pass the savings on to you with weekly and monthly rates that cost less per night the longer you stay!”
Typically extended stay hotels offer kitchens, laundry vending services and gyms. Hoem doesn’t believe a pool is being proposed.
Earlier this year the Ceres City Council amended the zoning regulations to allow construction of buildings taller than the existing 35-foot height limit on properties zoned Regional Commercial, or RC. The action allows a building of up to 50 feet which would allow a four-story structure.
Like Ceres, the Turlock Planning Commission will consider a request for an exception to the 35-foot height limit established in Turlock’s Westside Industrial Specific Plan. The 53,710 square foot Turlock hotel would reach feet at its highest point — 18 feet over the current height limit.
Turlock city staff is recommending that the commission approve the project and the height exception.
Kristina Hacker contributed to the report.
