The project is one of the first new-build hotels created with the brand image and services mandated under the relaunching of the Holiday Inn Express brand by InterContinental Hotels Group. Portland, OR-based Wright Development is the general contractor on the project.

AHDP president Clyde Harris tells GlobeSt.com that the project is expected to cost $9 million. "The project is located on Abercorn Street, which is the main thoroughfare in Savannah," Harris says. "It's also located near several hospitals in an area that's growing." Harris Hotel Group, also headed by Harris, will manage the property.

Harris says the project was also attractive because the 172-room Holiday Inn located about two miles from the new hotel will no longer be a Holiday Inn as of February 2009. "There will be a large number of Priority Club members looking for rooms," he says.

AHDP partners with real estate investment firms and high-net-worth individuals to develop and open hotels in targeted, underserved markets. The company is currently developing 15 hotels in several states, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

"The Savannah market requires more hotel rooms," says Harris. "We identified this need, and are working rapidly to enter the Savannah market with this property."