K-96 hotel finally close to opening along with one downtown, but why the delays?
Mitesh Patel has built a lot of hotels, so he surely understands about encountering delays and construction issues, but his two most recent builds have been particularly frustrating for a couple of different reasons.
Patel is building a Home2 Suites by Hilton at the Cross Pointe development at the southeast corner of 21st and Greenwich.
A lot of people recognize this as the long-unfinished hotel along K-96 and have asked about it.
Another ownership group originally announced the hotel in 2015, but Patel says there were financing issues.
“We bought the whole project from them.”
He then expected to open in the spring or summer this year, but he says as soon as wiring was complete, its copper was stolen.
“That was the one big deal,” Patel says.
He says all of the wiring had to be redone — and he had to hire security guards.
The rooms are now completed. The lobby needs to be finished, and the landscaping will be put in next week.
Patel expects to open by the end of November if not a little earlier that month.
Downtown, he expects to open his Hilton Garden Inn next month.
The delay there has been the rooftop pool.
“We’ve been ready for six months,” Patel says of the rest of the hotel.
Without the pool, though, he could not open.
“That’s the Hilton policy.”
The pool arrived Saturday. Ironically, it was just days after Hilton changed its policy to allow its hotels to open before their pools are ready.
Still, at this point, Patel says he’d rather finish the pool construction and install HVAC units before guests begin arriving.
The new Starbucks is already open at the hotel.
Patel expects the entire hotel to open mid-October or by the end of the month at the latest.
Like a lot of the other hotels Patel has built around Wichita, such as Hampton Inn & Suites and SpringHill Suites at the airport, Patel plans to eventually sell the two new Hiltons.
“I generally build and sell.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 5:00 AM.