The building would replace a gas station at the northeast corner of 1st Avenue South and Royal Brougham Way, an intersection that also includes one entrance to the Seattle Mariners baseball stadium. The Seahawks new stadium is immediately northeast of the site. The gas station is the southern most property still within the Pioneer Square Historic District, which allows for hotels.

"(Silver Cloud Hotels) seems to think it's very viable," Scott Kemp, the city planner handling the application, tells GlobeSt.com. "Others say 'why would anybody want to stay there?'"

Silver Cloud Hotels executive Jim Weymouth could not be reached for comment Friday on what type of user it expects to stay at the hotel. A source at Bumgardner Architects, the hotel's designer, tells GlobeSt.com that one of the advantages of the location is that, if successful, there are few other sites in the area that also could become hotels, as most of the surrounding property is zoned industrial. "One of the biggest reasons for the project is the zoning," says the source.

The project is a joint venture with the property owner, itself a partnership of two individuals, says Kemp. A Master Use Permit is likely about six months away. To speed the process, building permits have been applied for concurrently. Financing still must be secured for the project, but if construction begins this time next year, the hotel could be up and running by the spring of 2005.

Silver Cloud now operates 11 inns in the Puget Sound region, and is currently building two others. A 179-room Silver Cloud Inn near Seattle University on Broadway is scheduled to open in summer 2003 and the152-room Silver Cloud Eastgate is slated to open in late 2004 adjacent the Interstate 90 corridor in Bellevue.

Instant Insights /

Silver Cloud, Landowners Seeking Approvals for Stadium Hotel

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