By J.D. Prose, courtesy of Beaver County Times, Pa./McClatchy-Tribune Regional News
CHIPPEWA TWP, Penn.
A major hotel chain is coming to the Beaver County Airport in Chippewa Township.
Castlebrook Development Group and Cessna Hospitality Associates announced Wednesday that a 79-room Microtel Inn and Suites by Wyndham Hotels will be built at Darlington Road and Cessna Drive.
"The hotel will certainly enhance the operations of the Beaver County Airport," said airport authority chairman Dan Donatella, a former county commissioner. "It's going to be a good project for the airport and Chippewa Township."
According to Castlebrook's release, the three-story Microtel Inn and Suites will have 14 rooms with a queen-sized bed, 40 rooms with two queen-sized beds and 25 suites each featuring a "micro-kitchen."
The hotel also will have a boardroom-sized meeting room and exercise room and will offer a daily continental breakfast. Donatella said a restaurant was not needed because there are already plenty in the area.
A formal announcement will happen Friday at a luncheon at the Beaver Valley Golf Club in Patterson Township.
Two years ago, Donatella said a project to bring a hotel to the airport was in the works. At that time, he cited the proximity to the Community College of Beaver County's aviation program and a lack of lodging in the Chippewa area.
Now, though, all eyes are on the proposed Shell Chemical Corp. ethane cracker plant in Potter Township. Donatella said having a hotel near the county airport would be "critically important" if Shell builds in the county.
"They need an airport to be able to get in and get out of," Donatella said of Shell officials and other corporate executives who might come here on business. Executives would face a longer drive and more hurdles if they flew in and out of Pittsburgh International Airport, he said.
Donatella said there are two acres adjacent to the Microtel site on which the hotel could expand, if necessary, in the future. Also, there are plans for the airport to extend two runways to accommodate larger planes.
"After that," Donatella said, "we'll be able to handle any corporate aircraft out there."
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