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  Carrie Rengers  

Greenwich, 21st to get suites hotel

The intersection of 21st and Greenwich is going to be home to another hotel. The first Staybridge Suites in Kansas should open at the Village at Greenwich on the northeast corner by April 1. The hotel will be just north of the Community Bank building.

"We're going after kind of the upper-end corporate extended-stay traveler," says Dan Marak, the Shawnee-based development director and principal of St. Louis-based Midas Hospitality.

Omaha-based DKC Development Ventures and Keystone Investment Group are also investors.

TMH Hotels of Wichita is already building a 102-room Hampton Inn & Suites at Regency Lakes Shopping Center on the northwest corner.

"We feel like this is going to be... a nice, complementary offering," Marak says.

He says the Hampton Inn is more for visitors staying a night or two. Staybridge is geared toward guests averaging an eight-night stay.

Staybridge is part of the InterContinental Hotels Group, which includes Holiday Inn. Staybridge is comparable to Homewood Suites by Hilton and Residence Inn by Marriott.

Marak says Staybridge will offer complimentary appetizers and drinks Tuesday through Thursday and have things like a theater room for watching football.

Midas will break ground on the 88-room hotel next week.

"We looked really, really hard at Kellogg," Marak says of locating there. "We just felt 21st and Greenwich gave us a lot more flexibility."

He also looked along 13th.

"It appeared to me like 13th had already found most, if not all, of its users, and I thought 21st was probably going to be a little closer access to 96 highway and also a little less traffic at about 5 o'clock."

Marak says investors include people in Omaha, St. Louis and Little Rock.

"All of these outside investors were pleasantly surprised when they visited the area," Marak says.

He also really liked Village developer Steve Wheeler.

"We struck a rapport," Marak says.

Wheeler says the hotel is part of his larger plan.

"It moves our development in the direction that we've been planning all along," he says.

There are three retail tenants in the Village's first building, and Wheeler is two weeks away from finishing the second phase of that building.

He's talking with several potential tenants.

"Activity generates more activity," Wheeler says. "It helps create momentum on North Greenwich Road."

Douglas doughnuts

Just as they hoped, Michael Carmody and Angie Etter have found space on Douglas to open the Donut Whole coffeehouse.

They'll take the first floor of the building at 1716 E. Douglas near Fisher's Transmission (which is recognizable for its upside-down sign).

"It just had a lot of the things we were looking for in one spot," Carmody says.

"To me, it's the next stop up from Old Town," says Leon Moeder, who bought the building in February with his wife, Susan, and Raleigh and Rhandalee Hinman.

The Moeders and Hinmans have been remodeling the 1924 building and looking for tenants.

"The parking lot that everyone thinks belongs to Fisher's Transmission, it's mine," Leon Moeder says.

There will be room for a drive-through, which will be open 24 hours.

The Donut Whole should open in October.

"It's been a year in the making," Carmody says.

Cryptically speaking

Through a couple of cryptic conversations with those in the know, we've learned that a restaurant named El Rancho will be opening at 47th South and Broadway across from Dillons in a couple of weeks.

The Mexican restaurant will seat 160 and have a full bar, but that's about all we can tell you for now.

New for her

Dalila Stevenson is moving her New For You-Kids resale shop from Delano to East Central.

"Parking is an issue where I'm at," Stevenson says.

She opened at 1316 W. Douglas in September 2007. Stevenson will move to 501 E. Central in a few weeks. She doesn't have an exact date yet.

Stevenson sells maternity clothes and clothes for infants and kids through children's size 12.

Her new shop also will be 300 square feet larger than her Delano shop for a total of 1,500 square feet.

You don't say

"How bright can the man be?"

--Spangles'Rene Steven, who is helping throw a roast for Dawson Grimsley Tuesday and was disappointed to see that when they met to promote the event he showed up with coffee from McDonald's

Got a hot tip or quirky story? Call Carrie Rengers at 316-268-6340 or e-mail crengers@wichitaeagle.com.