"Occupancy is now about 65%," says Lisa Anders, the bureau's communications director. "It was 64.5% last year and PKF projects it will be 67% for the 2001."
One major reason for the continuing growth of hotels is the opening less than a year ago of the Sugarloaf Parkway, which for the first time brought a direct east-west connection through this large, 451-square-mile county that still has a lot of undeveloped land when visitors get outside the I-85 corridor.
"The Sugarloaf Parkway has opened up a real hub of corporate activity," Anders says. "It's become one of the most upscale areas in Atlanta."
Many major corporations have been occupying class A offices along the roadway, which has led to high-end housing developments as well as other commercial projects, such as retail and restaurants.
The latest hotel opening here in April was the 122-room Hilton Garden Inn-Gwinnett Sugarloaf. "The market here on weekdays is predominately corporate," Anders says.
But the Mall of Georgia, which opened about a year and a half ago, has also spurred visitor interest. Most of the hotels in the area represent chains, some of which missed out on the opportunity to take advantage of the mall.
"The hotel people were not willing to roll the dice, with one exception being the Hampton Inn at the Mall of Georgia," Anders tells GlobeSt.com. "They're probably doing more business than any hotel in the county with an occupancy rate of about 90% at rates of $90 per night.
Altogether, Gwinnett has 87 hotels, with about two thirds of them located in the Duluth, GA or Norcross, GA areas. That compares with Cobb County, which is much closer to Atlanta's Downtown core and has more than 100 hotels.
The greater Atlanta area has about 80,000 hotel rooms. The county has 10,200 rooms, a number which was only 6,100 as recently as 1996.Compared to other areas, Gwinnett is a bargain, Anders points out. Average daily room rates are about $74, which compares to a $131 average in Downtown Atlanta.
But Gwinnett County is also about to get another substantial boost to hotel building this fall when the 1.3 million sf entertainment-retail complex of Discover Mills is scheduled to open.
Any concern about overbuilding is also lessened because plans for at least some of the other 10 hotels will almost certainly be scuttled, Anders notes.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
David Wilkening
David Wilkening began his long journalism career as a police reporter for Chicago-area newspapers. He became a writer-editor for major newspapers in Chicago, Washington, Detroit and Florida. He has been a business editor, political editor and travel editor for newspapers and magazines. He tried for a while to be a political operative but did better as an adjunct college professor teaching English and journalism. He is the author of several books, both ghost-written and under his own name. He is also a widely published freelance writer who currently lives in Orlando.
