Side and front renderings of the Residence Inn that Shamin Hotels is planning near Richmond International Airport. (Henrico documents)
A pair of extended-stay hotels under the same brand are in the works at opposite ends of metro Richmond from two area hoteliers.
Richmond-based Shamin Hotels is planning a Marriott-branded Residence Inn hotel at 500 W. Williamsburg Road, across from Richmond International Airport just east of Airport Drive.
At the same time, Sina Hospitality, out of Colonial Heights, is planning its own Residence Inn in the Commonwealth Center development across Hull Street Road from Brandermill in Chesterfield County.
The two projects are being driven by different market forces: industrial growth in and around eastern Henrico for Shamin, and sports tourism from Chesterfield’s River City Sportsplex for Sina, the companies’ respective CEOs said.
Neil Amin
“We have a lot of hotels in that area already, and we felt that another extended-stay product would work well there, given all the growth at White Oak,” said Shamin CEO Neil Amin, noting Facebook parent Meta’s expansion in the Henrico tech park and AutoZone’s under-development distribution center in New Kent.
Shamin’s plans call for a four-story, 111-room hotel on nearly half of the 6-acre Williamsburg Road parcel, which is along the west side of Trampton Road and south of Audubon Drive. The rest of the undeveloped parcel will be kept as wetlands, Amin said.
Shamin bought the parcel through an LLC in 2019 for $500,000, property records show. The county has assessed the property since then at just over $754,000.
A development plan for the 85,000-square-foot building was approved by the county last May, and permitting approvals are currently underway.
A site map shows the hotel’s orientation on part of the 6-acre Williamsburg Road parcel.
Amin said construction is anticipated to start in the second quarter of this year. He did not disclose a development cost for the project, which is being financed by South State Bank.
NBJ Architecture is designing the project, and Thomas Builders, out of Tennessee, is the general contractor. Timmons Group is handling engineering work.
The Residence Inn will join seven other Shamin hotels near the airport, including its Sheraton Richmond Airport Hotel, a brand Shamin introduced to the market with a renovation in 2020 of the former DoubleTree by Hilton at 5501 Eubank Road.
Amin said Shamin’s hotel count is slated to reach 75 this year with the opening of four other properties: a Home2 Suites by Hilton at 2901 Emerywood Parkway, at Glenside Drive and West Broad Street in western Henrico; another Home2 Suites in Fayetteville, North Carolina; and a Home2 Suites and a Hampton by Hilton in Towson, Maryland.
Shamin also is planning two more hotels as part of its redevelopment with Rebkee Co. of the former Virginia Center Commons mall site in Henrico. Amin said those projects are moving forward and will consist of a 114-room Home2 Suites and a 100-room Residence Inn.
Late last year, Shamin also opened the region’s first Moxy, a newer Marriott hotel brand, a couple blocks from the company’s downtown headquarters.
Brandermill site targets sports tourism traffic
Plans for Sina Hospitality’s Residence Inn shows a roundabout planned at its entrance on Commonwealth Centre Parkway. (Chesterfield documents)
Meanwhile, Sina Hospitality, led by Ravi Patel, is aiming to break ground this fall on a five-story, 101-room Residence Inn at 5249 Commonwealth Centre Parkway, a vacant 2-acre parcel across from Uptown Alley.
Patel said the project is driven by Chesterfield’s sports tourism and the site’s proximity to the River City Sportsplex up Route 288. Commonwealth Center is adjacent to 288’s interchange with Hull Street Road.
“There’s always a need for hotel product, especially around a sports tourism destination,” Patel said. “Chesterfield County has done a good job of getting all the people there, and there’s really just a lack of new product near that particular venue.
Ravi Patel
“We thought of this as a way to be able to come in there, build a new hotel and give those teams a product that they’re looking for,” he said. “The rationale behind extended-stay was that if you have a tournament that may be two or three days long, the extended-stay model and the rate may work better for those families as opposed to a select-service hotel.”
The hotel is planned to include an indoor pool, fitness center, lobby and board room.
Sina is seeking to amend a previous approval for the site to reduce buffer and setback requirements. That request is set to go before the county Planning Commission at its Jan. 17 meeting.
Property records show that Sina acquired the parcel through an LLC last June, though they don’t include a transaction amount. Patel said it did purchase the property but declined to provide the price.
The seller was Shanbhag Family Trust LLC, which Patel said is based in South Carolina. It acquired the parcel the year before from C.V. Shanbhag, who purchased it in 2001 for $600,000. Shanbhag is CEO of Pinnacle Development, also based in South Carolina.
Patel put the project cost at $17 million. He said he’s aiming to start construction in October and expects the project to take 18 months.
The Site Design Co., out of Petersburg, is the engineer on the project. Kim Lacy with Roth Jackson is representing Sina in its amendment request.
The Residence Inn would be the latest project for Sina in Chesterfield, where Patel said it is looking to relocate its headquarters. In Chester, it recently built a Marriott-brand SpringHill Suites hotel at Route 10 and Interstate 95.
It’s also planning a Townplace Suites by Marriott at 101 N. Providence Road in Midlothian, and Patel said it’s starting construction this July on a SpringHill Suites at 5252 Airport Square Lane in Sandston, a change from a previously planned Townplace Suites there.
