Congratulations to our client, Blue Ocean Development, who is set to break ground soon a TownePlace Suites by Marriott on the site of Spire campus in Geneva, Ohio. This hotel will accommodate the growing demand at Spire and the Geneva area. It was pleasure to work with Blue Ocean on the hotel feasibility study for this project and we wish them much success with the development!
Published by: Christian Phillips/CoStarNews
Published date: October 2021
Blue Ocean is set to bring a new hotel to the massive Spire Institute & Academy campus in Geneva, Ohio.
The suburban Baltimore firm and master developer of the campus said it plans to break ground next month on an 89-room Marriott TownePlace Suites with adjacent Starbucks coffee shop. The company said it is also eyeing a second, to-be-determined retail business for the site.
The new hotel development is in response to growing demand for on-site accommodations at the nearly 500-acre campus that plays host to more than 1 million people annually, Blue Ocean said.
“Over the next few years, the I-90 corridor in Northeast Ohio will be growing and the SPIRE campus will be expanding as well,” Bill Monicelli, director of land development for Blue Ocean, said in a release. “We predict that in the very near future, visitors to this area will double or even triple.”
Built in 2012, the Spire campus encompasses four divisions: Spire Academy, an accredited college preparatory international boarding school, multi-sport and specialty training and development academy, and post grad program; Spire Institute, the research and development arm studying performance improvement; Spire Events, a facility that hosts tournaments and events for the NCAA, as well as Olympic trials and world championship qualifiers; and Spire Fit, a fitness, swim and health center open to the public.
In 2019, Blue Ocean affiliate Axxella acquired the Spire Institute sports complex for $9 million. It includes an athletic stadium for 20,000 people, an indoor track and field arena with seating for 5,000 people, a 300,000-square-foot aquatics center, 207,000 square feet indoor basketball and volleyball courts, and soccer and lacrosse fields, along with 100,000 square feet of office space and a 30,000-square-foot banquet center.
Blue Ocean announced last year it was in the final planning stages for a new on-site hotel as part of a larger expansion of the sprawling campus. Those plans include a new student housing complex, academic center and multifamily housing.
The hotel and Starbucks are set to be developed right at the entrance to the athletic academy, with construction to begin in November and wrap up in fall 2022.
