Fort Lee hotel plan galvanizes Tri-Cities business community

PETERSBURG -- When members of the Tri-Cities hospitality industry learned about Fort Lee's plan to build a mega-hotel, they reached out to one another.

The official announcement of the $114 million project -- a 1,000-room, 15-story building on 26 acres on base -- came as such a shock to some business leaders that they quickly organized to contest the project. If built, some said, the hotel could have negative effects on their businesses, especially those that strongly count on Fort Lee's patronage.

"This announcement has galvanized, hammered together, the businesses in a way that they weren't hammered together before," said Linas Kojelis, a Petersburg consultant who coordinates the Greater Tri-Cities Hospitality Coalition.

The ad hoc association is made up of small and medium businesses, including hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations. The coalition has grown from 66 members when it was created in August, only days after Fort Lee held a public meeting on the project, to its current 160.

As Fort Lee continues to move forward with the hotel plan, the coalition is asking the base to restart the planning process and do more research on the potential economic effects before moving forward.

A plan of such magnitude, Kojelis said, needed to be made public years ago so it would receive the appropriate amount of community input.

"This is a huge, half-million-square-foot, 1,000-room project. This should have been trumpeted," Kojelis said.

In August, the coalition requested a 120-day extension of the public comment period for the project, gaining only an additional 30 days, which ended Oct. 7. Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th, and Sens. Mark R. Warner and Jim Webb collectively sent a letter to the Army secretary in support of the group's demand for additional public comment time. The Army, however, denied an additional extension.

The hotel -- which would be the largest in the Army and in Virginia -- is a necessity, said Fort Lee Garrison Commander Col. Mike Morrow. As part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission process, Fort Lee's average daily population is projected to nearly double by 2011, and many of the newcomers will be students in short-term training who require temporary housing.

David Schulte, executive director of the Petersburg Area Regional Tourism, said his group is working closely with the coalition to seek more information about the plan's economic impact.

He said the union of the businesses is a positive outcome of what has been an uncomfortable situation between the Tri-Cities community and Fort Lee since the hotel plan was revealed.

"It is the first time the hospitality industry has come together. This issue has brought them together, but we are hoping the coalition will eventually go into other issues," Schulte said, including a possible partnership to increase tourism in the region.

Kelly Clark, general manager of the Candlewood Suites in Hopewell, said she supported the formation of the coalition because she was concerned with the size of the Fort Lee project and how little information was made available about the impact of the project.

"This has brought us together to work for a common cause," she said. "When all of this is done, we are going to continue to stay connected."

Kojelis said the main goal of the coalition is for the business community to work with Fort Lee as equal partners.

"I do believe that after we . . . get over this sort of awkward period -- and I hope very, very quickly -- that our friends at Fort Lee will see the benefit of having a unified business voice responding specifically to the issues, needs and opportunities of Fort Lee," he said. "We will agree sometimes, we will disagree sometimes."

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .