Hot Property: Hilton Home2 Suites Hotel in Minnetonka

Rooms: 102

Size: 66,000 square feet

Developer: Buhl Investors

Architect: Cities Edge Architects

Details: A long-vacant lot in the Minnetonka Corporate Center business park will get a new extended-stay hotel as well as a possible future day-care center under plans approved by the city this month.

Developer Peter Deanovic and his Buhl Investors real estate company on Jan. 4 received the thumbs-up from the Minnetonka City Council for a 102-room hotel on part of the 6-acre site at 6030 Clearwater Dr. The five-story hotel will be flagged as a Hilton Home2 Suites, an extended-stay concept, relatively new to the Twin Cities market, catering to upscale business travelers.

The parcel, situated in the northeastern quadrant of the Interstate 494-Hwy. 62 Crosstown interchange, has remained vacant since the establishment of the business park in the early 1980s. It has been guided for both hotel and office uses over the years and has most recently been used as overflow parking for a neighboring office building.

Hotel amenities will include a fitness center, pool, outdoor seating areas, bike racks and a connection to the existing sidewalk system within the park.

As part of the plans, the eastern portion of the lot was split off for future use as a 21,000-square-foot day-care center. Deanovic said in submitted narrative the two uses would complement each on the site due to their differing peak traffic times.

Don Jacobson is a St. Paul-based freelance writer. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.