Spokane-based Vandervert Construction Inc. has started work on its largest contract to date—a $32 million Hilton Garden Inn, in Bellevue—and the real estate developer there also is looking to Vandervert to construct 25 smaller WoodSpring Suites hotels with a combined construction value that would exceed $100 million.

The construction cost is just a portion of the total development cost, which could approach $300 million, according to figures cited by Mike Nielson, principal and CEO of the development company, Bellevue-based West77 Partners LLC.

Nielson estimates the total development cost for the Hilton Garden Inn project at $70 million, and he estimates development costs for WoodSpring Suites projects at $12 million to $15 million each.

He says Vandervert currently is pouring footings, foundations, and columns for a two-level underground parking garage at the Hilton Garden Inn project site in downtown Bellevue. The hotel rooms and services will be in six above-ground floors.

The project, which was designed by Jensen Fey Architecture & Planning PS, of Redmond, Wash., is expected to be completed in the winter of 2016, Nielson says.

West77 Partners also has signed a letter of intent for Vandervert to erect the first three WoodSpring Suites hotels in the Puget Sound area, he says. Those projects include a 122-room hotel in Everett, a 120-room hotel in Redmond, and a 126-room hotel in Tukwila.

Construction could start yet this month on the Everett project, Nielson says, adding that he anticipates construction will start in the first quarter of 2016 on the Redmond and Tukwila projects.

West77 Partners is the exclusive developer for WoodSpring Suites in Washington state, Nielson says. 

Wichita, Kansas-based WoodSpring Suites is a recently rebranded hotel chain formerly known as Value Place. Nielson describes the WoodSpring Suites brand as a “sleek and trendy extended-stay hotel at the lower end of midscale pricing, but with an upper midscale feel.”

West77 Partners hopes to construct 25 hotels throughout the state in the next four years, including hotels in the Spokane and Pullman areas, he says.

“Our goal is to use Vandervert for each of those, as long as they can get good subcontractors and can handle the work,” Nielson says.

West77 Partners’ plans include constructing a total of six WoodSpring Suites hotels next year and eight the following year, he says.

“I do see at least one, and maybe two in Spokane,” he says. “Construction on a Spokane project could begin as soon as next year if we find the right site. We would have to start looking for a site within the next six months and could be up and operational at the soonest in the first quarter of 2017.”

Nielson says West77 Partners also expects to develop a WoodSpring hotel in the Tri-Cities starting in 2016.

“There will probably be five of our 25 hotels in Eastern Washington, if not one or two more,” he says. “We think WoodSpring Suites hotels are going to fill a niche that’s unsatisfied in the market.”

Tim Stulc, president of Vandervert Construction, says the Hilton Garden Springs contract alone far exceeds Vandervert’s previous largest single contract, which totaled $17.8 million for the 130,000-square-foot Cabela’s sporting goods megastore in Post Falls.

More importantly, Stulc says, of the construction company’s relationship with West77 Partners, “We have the opportunity to step forward into larger, more complex work on the West Side.”

Vandervert has constructed a few projects on the West Side, including a Fred Meyer department store and a couple of Petco stores, Stulc says. Those contracts, however, were awarded by clients that Vandervert already had done work for in Eastern Washington.

“We’ve done work for a handful of existing clients one project at a time,” he says of West Side work. “We haven’t been over there on a full-time basis.”

Stulc says West77 Partners had been aware of Vandervert’s experience in developing and operating hotels through its Spokane-based affiliate Vandervert Developments LLC and subsidiary Vandervert Developments Hotel Division Inc.

“They approached us because of our hotel experience and our company’s close working relationships with development groups,” Vandervert says. “We’re a comfortable fit.”

He credits Vandervert chief estimator Klint Kimball with advancing a working rapport with West77 that looks to be developing into a long-term relationship between the real estate development and construction contracting companies.

Stulc says Vandervert also has recruited a high-level superintendent and a senior project manager for its West Side operations.

“Both have large-project experience,” he says, adding “They will help us manage the Hilton Garden Inn project and spread our capabilities to pursue other opportunities in the market.”

Vandervert Developments Hotel Division owns and operates several hotels, including Spokane-area hotels Quality Inn Oakwood, at 7919 N. Division; Hampton Inn Spokane Airport, at 2010 S. Assembly; and Hilton Garden Inn Spokane Airport, at 9015 U.S. 2.

The hotel division also owns and operates Hampton Inn Richland, in central Washington, and Hampton Inn Kalispell, in northwest Montana.