Frontier to build second hotel at The Plex Area

Frontier Hospitality Group is expanding its Quad Cities footprint with a new SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel to be built alongside the new Iron Tee Golf attraction in north Bettendorf.  The Bettendorf-based Frontier announced in a news release Thursday, Aug. 3, that it is building what will be its second hotel near the sprawling TBK […]

Frontier Hospitality Group is expanding its Quad Cities footprint with a new SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel to be built alongside the new Iron Tee Golf attraction in north Bettendorf.  The Bettendorf-based Frontier announced in a news release Thursday, Aug. 3, that it is building what will be its second hotel near the sprawling TBK Bank Sports Complex. The new 80-room SpringHill Suites will be a key component in Phase 2 of The Plex Area district, Dan Huber, Frontier Hospitality Group’s CEO and co-owner, told the QCBJ in a telephone interview.   “There’s a lot to experience out in that area — retail, bars, restaurants, TBK Bank Sports Complex and now Iron Tee. It’s actually becoming a growth corridor in the Quad Cities,” he said.  The new FHG hotel will be built adjacent to Iron Tee Golf, which is part of a new expansion of the six-year-old sports complex at the northeast quadrant of Middle and Forest Grove roads. 

Construction will begin on SpringHill Suites in early 2024 with an anticipated opening date of early 2025. The project will create 100 construction jobs as well as 25 permanent hospitality jobs once the new hotel opens, FHG said.  “We are pleased to be a part of this dynamic new development,” Mr. Huber said in a news release announcing the hotel. “Our partnership with Plex Travel, which manages the lodging for inbound teams competing at the TBK Bank Sports Complex, and our business partnering relationships with the owners of the TBK Bank Sports Complex, JP Sports, Iron Tee Golf and the surrounding commercial developments, make this particular hotel development a winning proposition.”  Mr. Huber told the QCBJ that this project is the result of the business relationships that FHG has forged with The Plex Area investors, including Doug Kratz, Kevin Koellner and others.   He recalled Mr. Kratz and Mr. Koellner first approaching Bart Baker, his FHG business partner, sometime around 2017 about FHG building a hotel at the future sports complex. That conversation led to FHB building the Cambria Hotel Bettendorf, which opened in 2018. It currently is the only hotel property nearby the booming sporting and commercial district.  “The area, as you remember, in 2017 was nothing but agriculture. There was nothing commercial out there,” Mr. Huber recalled. “We knew when we built Cambria that it would take time (to grow) because you’re introducing a hotel into a brand new commercial district.” But today, he would argue, the TBK complex and surrounding retail make up the region’s fastest growing area.  He said SpringHill Suites will be built to the north of both Forest Grove Road and the three new commercial buildings now under construction there. To its south will be the Competition Drive extension.  For FHG, the project is just its latest QC hotel. The company also is building a Courtyard by Marriott on the former Jumer’s Castle Lodge site in Bettendorf, next to the Home2 Suites it built there in 2019.  “We’re doing this because of those partnerships,” Mr. Huber said. “We’re tied to those entities. We’re all kind of pushing and pulling in the same direction.”  In fact, Mr. Huber said Mr. Koellner, Mr. Kratz and Jim Russell are investors in some of its hotel properties. Mr. Russell’s Davenport-based construction and development company, Russell, is the building contractor for the Courtyard and the future SpringHill Suites.   According to Mr. Huber, Mr. Kratz is a partner in FHG’s Cambria Hotel, while Mr. Koellner is a partner in the Cambria, Home2 Suites, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and FHG’s Residence Inn in East Peoria. Mr. Russell is a partner in the FHG’s Holiday Inn Express in Moline and East Peoria, Home2 Suites, Courtyard and the SpringHill Suites.  Last year, FHG sold off the Steeplegate Inn in Davenport and its Best Western Dubuque hotel.  When its next two Bettendorf properties are completed (Courtyard in November and SpringHill Suites in 2025), Mr. Huber said Frontier will have seven total hotel properties, including four in Bettendorf.  SpringHill Suites also will introduce the Quad Cities to a new hotel brand. The SpringHill Suites brand boasts more than 450 locations in the U.S. and Canada and participates in Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott’s loyalty program. For more information, visit MarriottBonvoy.com.  “SpringHill Suites by Marriott offers a tremendous product that guests love, and we’re thrilled to add this great brand to our portfolio,” he said.  This will mark FHG’s third hotel with Marriott International and its first with SpringHill Suites.  The hotel will include spacious suites designed to blend how guests work and relax. Its guestrooms offer separate areas of the room to sleep, work and relax. In addition to open and airy community spaces, other amenities will include a meeting room, indoor pool and fitness center, and a sundries shop with pre-made cocktails, beer and wine.