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This rendering shows the future hotel and retail site featuring a Starbucks that will be developed next to the Spire Institute and Academy complex in Geneva.

Spire Institute and Academy announced that it will be getting a new, 89-room Marriott TownePlace Suites hotel next to its massive sports complex in Geneva, with the hotel slated to open around this time next year.

The hotel will have 55,000 square feet of space and four floors. It will feature a “state-of-the-art” fitness center, according to developers, with an indoor pool and a patio overlooking the nearby Spire lake.

The hotel will be managed in the future by Monroe, Louisiana-based InterMountain Management, which specializes in the select-service and extended-stay hotel segments.

The project also includes a Starbucks that will be on Spire Circle near the entrance to the athletic academy and space for an additional, to-be-determined retailer.

The project is being developed in a partnership between Spire and Blue Ocean, a real estate investment and management company based in Owings Hills, Maryland. Other groups involved in the joint venture include Renew Partners of Montville, Ohio, and JCI Contractors of Ashtabula.

Blue Ocean declined to share the estimated value of the project. It also declined to share a ballpark range of what rooms might cost in the future.

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Spire describes itself as a “world-class, mega-facility specializing in education, training, development and competition within a wide variety of sports.” Its complex features indoor and outdoor training facilities, including a track-and-field area, basketball courts, soccer fields and an Olympic-sized pool.

The facilities are located on 500 acres of property in Geneva with more than 750,000 square feet of space under one roof at its sprawling complex. Sports currently featured on the Spire campus include swimming, track and field, basketball, esports, drone racing, wrestling and lacrosse.

Spire has an international population of students, event competitors, Olympic trainees and spectators, according to the company. It offers a variety of programming and just this summer announced its new wrestling program, led by Olympian Kenny Monday (who won a gold medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea).

Since it officially opened in 2012, high on Spire’s wish list has been on-site hotel accommodations. “Over the next few years, the I-90 corridor in Northeast Ohio will be growing and the Spire campus will be expanding as well,” said Blue Ocean director of land development Bill Monicelli in a statement. “We predict that in the very near future, visitors to this area will double or even triple. The new TownePlace Suites hotel and Starbucks will be meeting the needs of these visitors, for Spire itself, as well as the surrounding area.”

Groundbreakings for both the hotel and Starbucks are expected to take place in November, with the hotel slated to open sometime in late fall 2022. The hotel is expected to have between 30 and 50 employees, depending on the season, according to Blue Ocean.

Blue Ocean, founded in 2004, has a portfolio of real estate investments valued in excess of $500 million that includes over 2,000 multifamily units and 3 million square feet of commercial space, according to the firm.

“Spire is an exceptional resource to the global market of elite sports and is a prominent economic driver in and around the greater Cleveland area,” said Blue Ocean president Jonathan Ehrenfeld in a statement. “The addition of these new resources on the Spire campus elevates our ability to bring more value to the local market and well beyond — further positioning Spire as the premier destination for top student athletes, Olympic hopefuls, sport camps, national competitions and more.”

From Crain’s Cleveland Business:
https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-business/now-almost-500-acres-spires-grand-plan-includes-new-entrance-university

Author:
Jeremy Noble