Construction delays in store for new hotel at Southern Village

The Southern Village community is anticipating the arrival of a new hotel, but delays in construction might push the opening date back.

Construction of the Hyatt Place hotel was supposed to begin this past summer, but ongoing negotiations with the construction company regarding pricing is causing delays.

Bryan Properties, Inc. is the developer in charge of bringing the hotel to the area and has done other development work for Southern Village in the past.

“Bryan Properties is obviously a key community stakeholder in Chapel Hill, and they continue to be involved with a lot of management of Southern Village,” said Lee Storrow, Chapel Hill Town Council member.

“It’s a great firm to be leading the project, because they’re already very invested in Southern Village and Chapel Hill as a whole.”

The delays in construction are minor, said Dixon Pitt, property manager for Bryan Properties.

“It just got pushed back a bit, we’re still working with the builder on coming up with pricing and getting all the figures together,” Pitt said.

Pitt said construction on the hotel should begin any day now.

The opening date has not been officially changed from late 2015, but workers will be pressed to get things done on time.

“The construction has been pushed back, so it really probably won’t start until the first quarter of next year,” Pitt said.

Storrow said he is thrilled about the hotel and the contribution it will make to both the community and to businesses in Southern Village.

Southern Village residents are also excited for the new addition to the community, said Phil Meyer, treasurer of the Southern Village Homeowners Association.

“I think it’s needed to provide more traffic in our retail area,” he said.

Meyer said residents disliked the idea at first because the hotel will replace a parking lot that many residents thought was necessary.

But he said there is now little opposition to the hotel among community members because of the economic benefit the hotel could bring the community.

“We had many members of the Southern Village community come and speak at the council meeting when we talked about the hotel, and they were all very supportive of the location and the hotel coming to Southern Village,” Storrow said.

The benefits associated with the development include a short pedestrian path from the hotel to the retail center, Meyer said.

Pitt said the marketing for the hotel hasn’t begun yet, but the goal is for Hyatt Place to appeal to the needs of a wide variety of clientele, not just businesspeople.

“We’d like to appeal to a wide range,” he said. “We think Southern Village will act as an amenity that would appeal to both families and people on business travel.”

city@dailytarheel.com