Dayton International Airport (KDAY) to solicit new proposals for hotel construction

DAYTON — Dayton International Airport will issue a new request for proposals to build a hotel on airport property, since a developer was unable to secure financing to construct a Holiday Inn there, Dayton’s director of aviation said Friday.

Terrence G. Slaybaugh said he hopes to get the new request prepared and out for public response within a few weeks, to determine whether other developers would be interested and might have better luck in obtaining construction financing.

Construction contractor D.A.G. Construction Co. and hotel operator White Hills Hospitality LLC, both of Cincinnati, tried for months without success to obtain financing in what has been a challenging market for hotel construction loans. Three banks had been evaluating the project earlier this month, according to the construction company.

But a deal couldn’t be worked out, so the airport administration wants to try again, Slaybaugh said.

Air crews or passengers needing to stay near the airport terminal building overnight to catch early flights the next day would provide a reliable stream of customers for an on-site hotel, even with the existing lodging competition in the area, Slaybaugh said. PSA Airlines Inc., which flies under the US Airways Express banner, is headquartered at the Dayton airport and has an employee training facility there that attracts trainees from other cities.

Hotels operate on other airports across the country, Slaybaugh said.

“We think it’s something that can be successful,” he said.

D.A.G. Construction executives didn’t return calls requesting comment on Friday. A spokeswoman for InterContinental Hotels Group, operator of Holiday Inn hotels, also didn’t return a call.

Airport officials had initially hoped to see a $15 million, six-story, 130-room Holiday Inn Suites built and operating by the end of 2010. That was scaled back to a $10 million, four-story, 90-room project as the economy continued to lag, officials said.

Details of any new project will be left to contractors who submit proposals, Slaybaugh said.

The hotel originally was to have been built at the intersection of Terminal Drive and Boeing Drive. Now the preferred site is where the Dayton Airport Hotel stood for 40 years before the city recently razed it, concluding that it was outmoded and losing money. That site already has utility service available and is adjacent to the PSA Airlines’ training facility, Slaybaugh noted.

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