Bowling Green’s inventory of hotel rooms is about to get a boost from maybe the likeliest of sources: developer David Chandler.

Chandler, with the 198-room Embassy Suites hotel nearly ready to open in his The Hub commercial and residential development along Lovers Lane, is making plans to build a second hotel on that 103-acre property.

Working with the same Nashville-based B.L. Bennett & Associates construction company that has built other properties for him over the years, Chandler is planning to erect a four-story, 128-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel at 541 Hub Blvd., next to the Morgan Stanley office building.

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According to a building permit filed with the city of Bowling Green, it will be a $10 million project.

It will add to what Chandler has described as a $200 million development that will eventually include more than 800 high-end apartments along with commercial parcels and a Tony’s steak-and-seafood restaurant.

That restaurant, along with the Embassy Suites, is projected to open in February as the centerpiece of The Hub that already has nearly 600 apartments built and more under construction.

SpringHill Suites, described on the company’s website as targeting the “upper-moderate lodging tier,” is an all-suites property that Chandler believes will be a good fit in Bowling Green.

“The suites sleep up to six people, and they have a nice meeting area and bar,” Chandler said. “It does well with business travelers and with soccer kids on weekends.”

Chandler hopes to have the SpringHill Suites open in the spring of 2024, and he believes it will be a good fit in what is arguably Kentucky’s fastest-growing area.

“I feel good about it, especially with Tony’s getting ready to open,” Chandler said. “I feel good about Bowling Green’s growth, and I’m optimistic about the future.”

That optimism is shared by those in the local tourism industry.

“I’m pretty excited to see another property open up,” said Sherry Murphy, executive director of the Bowling Green Area Convention & Visitors Bureau that promotes local tourism and is funded largely by lodging taxes collected at local hotels. “It’s always good for tourism when we have more options available.”

Murphy said the Embassy Suites will bring Bowling Green’s hotel inventory to approximately 3,500 rooms, and the SpringHill Suites will only add to that total.

That’s roughly twice the number of hotel rooms available in Owensboro – a city comparable in size to Bowling Green – but Murphy said local automotive-related and youth sports events can at times stretch the local lodging capacity.

“We have quite a bit of (lodging) stock in Bowling Green, and they’re in use,” she said. “There are certain times of the year when we run completely out of rooms.”

Adding SpringHill Suites to The Hub, while a big project, isn’t all that Chandler has in the works these days.

The 63-year-old entrepreneur, inducted into the Junior Achievement of South Central Kentucky Business Hall of Fame in 2019, has been the driving force behind developing nearly 120 properties across the Southeast over the years – and he isn’t finished.

At a December 2020 auction, Chandler bought 83.5 acres at 9888 Nashville Road for $1.76 million, and now he is making moves to develop that land just south of Buchanon Park.

Chandler has taken the first step toward developing the property with an application to rezone the acreage from agriculture to general business, single-family residential and multi-family residential.

A hearing on that rezoning by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County is expected in January.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.

Embassy Suites Hotel Bowling Green KY Press Release