New Marriott to be Built Near Mercy Hospital in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Planners broke ground on a new Marriott hotel at National and Cherokee in Springfield, near Mercy Hospital.

"It means the world to have this close to that campus," says Tim O'Reilly, managing member and CEO of O'Reilly Hospitality Management, LLC.

O'Reilly says it'll be a place for families of patients, Mercy executives, and others to stay, possibly college parents too.

"The Mariott flag is extremely strong. It has broad appeal," says O'Reilly.

Former accountant and owner of nearby Lamplighter Inn, Gordon Elliott, is confident he is offering a good deal.

"I think this hotel won't take so much from the hospital business as it will from other Marriotts and Holiday Inns and Hamptons," Elliott says. "Our occupancy is less than the national average. It appears to be overbuilt and everybody's got to decide what the market wants."

The Springfield Convention and Visitor's Bureau estimates that the hotel industry is overbuilt, from a numbers stance. However, a hotel can succeed in the right spot. A town as a whole can overbuilt and have sections that are under-served.

Tracy Kimberlin with the C.V.B. says the new hotel could help in Springfield's convention business.

"It is relatively close to the downtown area so it could provide as an overflow property and will provide an overflow property for convention groups," Kimberlin says.