New extended stay hotel brand LivAway Suites has begun work on a $12 million hotel at 1289 Tapteal Drive in Richland.

The 59,712-square-foot hotel is expected to open in 2024.

Its suites feature complete in-room kitchens.

The hotel has partnered with hospitality management platform HotelKey to handle guest check-ins and check-outs, manage room availability and rates, and process reservations from multiple channels, all of which can be tracked with dashboard analytics.

Richland LA Hotel Holdings LLC recently paid $1.25 million for 5.5 acres across from Macy’s Columbia Furniture and Mattress Gallery and Ashley Store, just down the road from Kohl’s.

The new hotel will be located near the future Center Parkway extension, which is expected to be completed and open to traffic in October.

Center Parkway is being extended across a Port of Benton-owned railroad track near Columbia Center mall. When the two sides connect, motorists will be able to drive from Gage Boulevard in Kennewick to Tapteal Drive in Richland.

The planned extension has been touted by officials as a way to ease traffic in the Kennewick-Richland border zone west of Columbia Center mall and unused land on Tapteal Drive for development.

LivAway Suites, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is in the midst of a building spree. It recently broke ground on a hotel in Missoula, Montana, and has more than 25 hotels in various stages of development across the country.

Wasatch DC Builders NW LLC of Bellevue is the general contractor.

Richland and Missoula are the third and fourth groundbreakings so far this year in the brand’s growing portfolio.

“Notwithstanding the latest tightening in the credit markets, our plan is to continue developing LivAway Suites across the country over the next few years either through our own development or via strategic partnerships with other developers,” said Mike Nielson, chief executive officer of LivAway Suites, in a statement.

“A combination of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike campaign and the regional banking crisis has forced some hotel developers to cancel or postpone projects. Real estate development is tougher today than it was two years ago, and LivAway’s goal is to make the process easier for ourselves and our development partners via a low fee structure and support programs that streamline the development process,” Nielson said.

Keystone National Group, based in Salt Lake City, provided the construction financing for the project.

“The economy extended-stay segment performed incredibly well during the pandemic and the great financial crisis,” said Taylor Jackson, partner at Keystone National Group, in a statement. “LivAway Suites capitalizes on that recession-resilient operating model with better aesthetics, smart technology, and a developer-centric platform. As a capital provider, we also appreciate the low fee structure of LivAway Suites compared with the higher fees typically charged by other brands.”

Keystone is currently underwriting other LivAway Suites projects expected to break ground later this year and into 2024.

Go to: livawaysuites.com.