Fernley hotel project under way

Developers of an 83-room Comfort Suites under construction at the west end of Fernley hope the eventual development of four acres surrounding the two-acre hotel property adds the right mix of restaurants and retail to drive business to the site.

Gary Hutchings, a partner with Richard Hutchings and Mark Hyde in CHRH Limited of Fallon, says the three-story, $8 million hotel is the realization of almost five years of planning. CHRH is the builder of the Fernley subdivisions River Ranch, Desert Bluffs and Summerwood Homes.

"The whole idea is to hit the target on all this stuff," Hutchings says. "We feel like have the perfect flag, the right franchise. We want to be sure when we are all done that we have optimized the best opportunity in Fernley. Fernley has always been good. Everything has always worked for us there because Fernley has continued to grow."

Construction started in late November, and the property should be opened around July 1. Despite the economic stagnation in Fernley that has curtailed most of the town's former explosive growth, Hutchings says the time is right to build.

"There definitely is a need for it in this economy. Things have changed a little, but we have been working on this for some time and it has finally materialized," he says. "It is a good time to build because our processes and costs are way below what were projected. The slowdown has created opportunity. And of course we are optimistic about things turning around."

The Comfort Suites will employ at least 15. Hutchings says the development team has not decided on who will run the property and looks to hire an experienced property manager.

The lack of readily available commercial credit did not impact the developers.

"We got started on this almost two years ago and got financing finalized in July 2008, so we did not have any problems," Hutchings says.