With the mid-November opening of True North Hotel Group’s 18th hotel, a contemporarily designed new Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Hays, Kan., the company announced an upturn in development activity – including an addition to its portfolio of a new eco-conscious Starwood brand – planned over the next two years.

Next June, True North will open its first Element Hotel – a new extended stay Starwood brand that combines eco-consciousness with urban residential design – near the Miami International Airport. Developer Norwich Partners of Lebanon, N.H., also developed a True North-managed 108-suite Residence Inn by Marriott in Burlington-Colchester, Vt., that opened earlier this year.

True North will also open a new Hilton Garden Inn next fall in Devens, Mass.; is converting a Milwaukee hotel to a new 160-room Courtyard by Marriott (opening spring 2011); and is also developing a new Hampton Inn in Tucson, that will open in 2012.

“We’re encouraged by the uptick in development activity over the next 12-24 months,” said Lew Wiens, president of True North Hotel Group, who credited a solid portfolio of properties and hotel managers for holding their own during the economic downturn.

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Source: hospitalitynet.org