Danbury Slated for New Hilton, the Site? $1 million

A long-planned and long-awaited development off Mill Plain Road took a huge step forward on March 12 when a Buffalo-based hotel group paid $1 million for the hotel approved on the Interstate Business Center LLC site.

The Steiner family developed the center, and Roy Steiner said on Monday he'd been working with the Buffalo group on this sale since 2006. The same group operates the Courtyard by Marriott and the Hampton Inn in Danbury, said Stephen Bull, president of the .

The Steiners also developed the Berkshire Corporate Park, home of GE Capital Vender Financial Services, PG's Duracell World Headquarters, and Ability Beyond Disability, among many other firms.

"We held onto the deal with a handshake," Steiner said. He said the bad economy also slowed down the process. "Permitting took a considerable amount of time."

The site is undeveloped today, and the sales agreement says DANPRIN II, LLC, must build the hotel within three years. In the agreement, DANPRIN II, LLC, agreed to build an extended stay hotel along the lines of a Hilton Homewood Suites hotel. Danbury's other extended stay hotel is the on Segar Street, which includes a small kitchen in each suite. A business traveler training for a week or two can save money in a residence inn or an extended stay hotel.

The extra time helped the city complete a sewer upgrade to the west side of Danbury called the Westside Intercepter, phase 1. In this phase, which included a $5 million sewage pumping station located on the Steiner property, the city can now take care of current development and future development on the west side of Danbury.

"People say the Westside Intercepter was just for the Reserve property, but that isn't true," said Superintendent of Public Utilities, David Day. "It's for the whole west side."

Day said the improvement will allow people living in the Jenson Park will be able to hook up to the sewer line.

"This is an exceptional, well-run hotel management group," Bull said. "You're going to continue to see the business traveler coming to Danbury."