Shaner Hotel Group will build a 140-suite boutique hotel at Bellefield at Historic Hyde Park, the first of two hotels planned for the Dutchess County property where a Connecticut real estate investment firm leads a $23-million redevelopment project to make the site across from the Culinary Institute of America campus a major tourist destination.
The hotel partnership agreement was announced today by Bellefield Development Partners, an affiliate of T-Rex Capital Group LLC in Stamford. Described by the partners as an upscale, all-suites lifestyle hotel, The Inn at Bellefield will be the first building construction on the site.
Based in State College, Pennsylvania, Shaner Hotel Group will develop the hotel in collaboration with Marriott International Inc. Shaner operates more than 30 Marriott-brand hotels in its portfolio of more than 50 hotel properties in the U.S., Italy and the Bahamas.
The company, which operates several hotels and a golf resort in State College, home of Pennsylvania State University, has extensive operating experience in college and university markets, said Robert McCarthy, a Bellefield investor and former chief operating officer of Marriott International
Lance Shaner, the hotel group”™s chairman and CEO, in the announcement said the Hyde Park inn “will help the county and region capture professional conferences, weddings, community events, and social gatherings currently lost to better equipped facilities outside of the area.”
Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro hailed the hotel development, saying it will bring jobs and capital investment to Hyde Park, the county and region. “As tourism continues to grow, we need more and more quality hotel rooms to fill the demand,” he said.
Dutchess County Tourism Executive Director Mary Kay Vrba noted that tourists to the county spent $528 million in 2015. “The world-class destinations in Hyde Park draw millions of visitors to the area, so an upscale hotel is a necessity,” she said. Bellefield partners said the county receives about 4.5 million visitors a year.
Tom Mulroy, CEO of T-Rex Capital Group, said the firm anticipates more partnerships at Bellefield “that will help bring diversity to the region’s economy while supporting and growing our robust food, beverage and tourism sectors.”
Hyde Park Town Supervisor Aileen Rohr said town officials expect site plans for the boutique hotel will be submitted to the town planning board “in the near future.”
Bellefield Development Partners this month was awarded a $2 million state grant in the state”™s annual funding round for private and public economic development projects in 10 regions across the state. The Bellefield development was deemed a priority project for funding by the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council.
In addition to the two hotels planned on the 339-acre site, construction will include a conference center, a 10,000-square-foot freestanding restaurant, a 15,000-square-foot spa and 48,000 square feet of retail space for culinary-based businesses on the ground floor of a 40-unit, market-rate rental apartment building.
More than half of the property”™s acreage will remain wooded and undeveloped, according to the partners, with another 48 acres devoted to agricultural use.
