A family-entertainment business owner and a group of other Northwest investors are planning to develop a 90-room Holiday Inn Express hotel in Hayden, Idaho, this summer.


The $7 million-to-$10 million project is expected to start next month and to be completed by the spring of 2005, says the Hayden business owner, John Geddes, who is teaming up with Jack Nelson and Brett Nelson, both of Richland, Wash., and other investors to build the lodging facility.


The 58,000-square-foot hotel will be located on Orchard Avenue just east of Triple Play, a large family fun center owned by Geddes and his wife, Angela. It will be part of a seven-acre complex on the east side of U.S. 95 and will employ about 30 people, Geddes says.


Triple Play offers many activities for adults and children, including bowling, video games, go-carts, bumper boats, and wall climbing. A sky bridge will connect the hotel to Triple Plays building, Geddes says.


We think its a great addition to the area, says Geddes. This area needs a hotel, and its a nice tie-in with what we have going.


The hotel development group doesnt have a formal name yet, says Geddes, who also is an attorney in North Idaho.


The typical Holiday Inn Express design will be modified somewhat, including with an 18,000-square-foot pool with a retractable roof, says Geddes. The pool also will have a wave feature and a 50-foot water slide.


Holiday Inn Express and Holiday Inn hotels are typically operated under franchise agreements with Intercontinental Hotels Group plc, of Atlanta. The giant hotel chain has about 1,300 Holiday Inn Express hotels and about 1,500 Holiday Inn hotels worldwide.


Holiday Inn Express hotels typically are about half the size of Holiday Inn hotels and offer fewer amenities.


Richland-based Allpro Inc., owned by Jack and Brett Nelson, will build the hotel. The Nelsons have built and own about a half-dozen other hotels in the Northwest, including several Holiday Inn Express hotels.