PORTLAND, ME—The Olympia Companies has set an ambitious growth plan in motion for this year, with a full roster of openings and new developments ahead.
Known for its upscale luxury properties, such as the Inn by the Sea in Maine and The Alfond Inn at Rollins in Winter Park, FL, as well as a number of branded select-service hotels, The Olympia Companies is continuing to pursue diverse opportunities nationwide, led by President/CEO Kevin Mahaney.
It recently partnered with Smart Hotels in developing, and will manage, the SOPHY Hyde Park, a 98-room luxury boutique hotel currently under construction in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Adjacent to the campus of the University of Chicago and close to the site of the future Barack Obama Presidential Library, SOPHY is a Preferred Lifestyle Hotel, designed as a four-diamond property and engineered to achieve LEED Silver certification. It’s scheduled to open this summer.
In Green’s Grant, NH, the company’s management arm, Olympia Hotel Management, was selected by the Mt. Washington Summit Road Co. to operate The Glen House, which is near the base of the Mt. Washington Auto Rd. The newest iteration of the New England hotel (four Glen Houses have been built in the scenic locale since 1852) also will open this summer.
On the brand front, Olympia Development has been selected to oversee construction of a hotel project in the Quad Cities region of northwest Illinois and southeast Iowa that features two hotels: a 134-room Hyatt Place and 99-room Hyatt House. Olympia Hotel Management will manage the project once it opens this year.
The hotels are part of The Bend on the Mighty Mississippi, a master-planned, mixed-use development on a former industrial site located along the Mississippi River that brings retail, lodging, restaurants, apartments, offices and other amenities to a 132-acre site.
Some “Educated” Deals
Olympia will develop and manage Colby College’s new 42-room boutique hotel and restaurant in downtown Waterville, ME, with a ground break slated for this year. The hotel is expected to form the gateway to Waterville’s downtown revival.
Similarly, Olympia Hotel Management has assumed management of The Williams Inn in Williamstown, MA, which is owned by Williams College. Olympia is acting in a technical services capacity in the development of a new inn for the college, according to the company, and will manage that property when it opens in 2019.
Also under development is a Hilton Garden Inn that will be located close to Yale University in New Haven, CT.