Construction started last week on a $4.7 million expansion and renovation of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 111 Betz Road, in Cheney.

The hotel’s general manager, Dori Byrd, says the planned expansion is desperately needed.

“Last year, we had 90 nights booked out with a waiting list,” Byrd says. “It was a very busy year.”

The hotel currently has 76 guest rooms and is slated to have another 46 by the time the addition is complete, she says.

Construction crews recently began pouring concrete for the 25,300-square-foot addition to the existing 43,200-square-foot building. The expansion alone is expected to cost $3.5 million, while renovations to the rest of the hotel, built in 2007, are anticipated to cost $1.2 million, Byrd says.

Cheney-based MB Squared General Contracting LLC—owned and operated by Matt Boyd—is the general contractor, and the architect is Russ Page, of Russell C. Page Architects PS, of Spokane, Byrd says.

Along with the new rooms, the planned addition will include a 2,000-square-foot banquet room.

“The hotel’s owners have other businesses and are really plugged into the community, so we attract a lot of their business to the hotel,” Byrd says. 

Work is scheduled to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016, Byrd says.

Husband and wife duo Brian and Debbie Anderson co-own the hotel. In addition to rental properties in and around the Cheney area, Brian Anderson is part owner of Mitchell Park LLC, which operates the hotel, Byrd says.

With 25 employees, the hotel includes a room for receptions, a 300-square-foot boardroom, a 24-hour fitness center, and an indoor heated pool. It features a hot breakfast bar and offers free Wi-Fi.