BRENTWOOD, NY According to a recent report in Newsday, Nilesh Patel, a Long Islander who owns two hotels in Pennsylvania, will break ground on a 109-room Wingate Inn here in late June.
Patel s project is moving forward at a time when 1,500 new hotel rooms equal to about 40% of the current hotel room inventory on Long Island are either under construction or were recently completed.
As previously reported by HOTEL BUSINESS., the Long Island hotel market is in serious threat of over development. At the nearby Hampton Inn in Commack, the occupancy rate is 10 points below that of a year ago, and the average rate is being heavily discounted to encourage business.
Patel also plans a second hotel on the Island, at a site he declined to identify for the newspaper. He previously had planned a 100-room Wingate Inn opposite Long Island MacArthur Airport in Bohemia, but said that the project is not going forward. Patel s other hotels are near Allentown, PA. (5/24/01)
SOURCE:Newsday