The Prince William County Supervisors expect that a new hotel scheduled to be built at the Promenade at Virginia Gateway Center in Gainesville will help drive tourism to the western end of the county.
At the May 6 Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) meeting, supervisors unanimously supported raising the height restriction to 85 feet to allow for the construction of a new, though yet unnamed, hotel to be built at the Promenade.
Pete Dolan spoke on behalf of the Peterson Companies, developer of Virginia Gateway properties, saying he could not yet reveal which hotel chain was coming to the Gainesville location, but that whichever one it will be, it would be upscale and modern looking.
Brentsville District Supervisor Wally Covington (R) said, “I’m excited that it is a higher end hotel. It is going to fit nicely into this complex. Since I’ve been on this board, one of the problems we’ve had on the western end of the county is not enough hotel space.”
At the Promenade opening on April 27, Senior Vice President of the Retail Division for Peterson Companies Taylor Chess said while it would be a modern hotel, it would not have a full restaurant, nor would it offer room service. He said those amenities are unnecessary.
“We have all these restaurants already here,” Chess said. “This is a perfect draw.”
After the ceremony, Milton Peterson, founder and CEO of Peterson Companies, spoke to Bristow Beat about the need to bring hotels to Gainesville and the western end of the county. Peterson said s the hotel will be an ideal place for visiting relatives, but it would also help drive sports tourism to western Prince William.
“RTJ lost the Presidential Cup because there weren’t a dearth of options,” he said.
Supervisors agreed that the hotel could help attract high profile events such as the Presidents Cup.
But new high-end hotels are not only being built in the western of Prince William County. At the Discover Prince William and Manassas Tourism Luncheon held Friday afternoon, Neabsco Supervisor John Jenkins (D) said there were four new hotels on the horizon for Prince William County.
According to Jenkins, there is a multi-million dollar hotel and spa coming to Potomac Shores, a hotel to be built adjacent Virginia Community College’s Woodbridge campus and another near Freedom High School in Woodbridge.
He said that sports tourism has been a goal for the county. Additionally, the supervisors are interested in supporting and expanding all kinds of tourism, including historical tourism.
Besides the various golf courses located in Gainesville, the new Promenade hotel is close to retail, restaurants, the Regal Gateway Stadium 14 & PRX movie theatre, Jiffy Lube Live, George Mason University Manassas Campus and Hylton Performing Arts Center, Old Town Manassas, the Town of Haymarket, Manassas Battlefield, Bristoe Station Battlefield, Bull Run Regional Park and Conway Robinson State Forest. The hotel would also be conveniently located near I-66 and other major routes to Washington, D.C. and other Virginia tourist destinations.
Gainesville Supervisor Peter Candland (R) inquired if there would be enough parking for the new hotel to which Dolan answered that there is already ample parking planned for stage two of Promenade's development.
Support Bristow Beat - Donate Today!