Fort Belvoir, Va. (May 30, 2014) - Construction is under way on Fort Belvoir's new Staybridge Suites hotel across from Fort Belvoir Community Hospital and Knadle Hall on South Post. Knadle Hall will open as a Holiday Inn Express late this summer.

Staybridge Suites

The Staybridge Suites is scheduled for completion in August 2015, and slated to open in early fall 2015, said Will Radford, senior development manager for Lend Lease (U.S.) Public Partnerships, the developer for the PAL portfolio.

The hotel is designed to ease the challenges that wounded warriors and their Families face, he said.

"The Staybridge project was designed for Families who may have a longer stay, due to their servicemembers or other Family members who are staying in the hospital," he said.

It's the only hotel of its kind in the Army, according to Elizabeth Lloyd, senior vice president, asset management for Lend Lease.

"It's actually the only Staybridge Suites out of the entire 39-installation portfolio, so it is unique," she said.

The hotel offers a host of amenities with wounded warriors and their Families in mind, Radford said.

It will offer 141 guest rooms, including private meeting spaces designed for patients and doctors, a children's media room with multiple television and gaming stations, and a fitness gym, he said. The hotel will also have its own convenience store where guests can buy snacks and sundries.

An outdoor area will include a zero-entry pool with wheelchair access, a playground with a rubberized floor, covered tables and barbecue pavilions, he added.

Additionally, Staybridge Suites will include 20 handicapped-accessible suites for wounded warriors and eight distinguished visitor quarters, said Christopher Landgraf, installation master planner with the Fort Belvoir Directorate of Public Works.

"It actually helps to fully complement what we had across the garrison for lodging," he said.

The hotel's location also fits into the community scheme, since it is near the Fort Belvoir Community Center, the Fisher House and Joanne Blanks Child Development Center as well, Landgraf said.

When the Staybridge Suites opens, Fort Belvoir will be able to retire some of the older hotel stock and rebrand the remaining facilities, he said.

Holiday Inn Express

Construction on Fort Belvoir's Knadle Hall (Building 470) is nearly complete. The hotel will open as a Holiday Inn Express in late summer or early fall in 2014, Radford said.

The hotel's amenities include an entirely new conference room, breakfast area in the basement, a patio with multiple grilling stations, a fitness gym, guest laundry room, business center and sweet shop, he said.

"The guest rooms were completely changed: new carpet, new wall surfaces, new light fixtures and furnishings, new bathrooms. It's a pretty comprehensive renovation," he added.

The Holiday Inn Express will also offer high-speed Internet -- a big improvement from dial-up, he added, and host a weekly social every Thursday night from 5-8 p.m. for any guests of Army lodging on Fort Belvoir.

"Each week, the Soldiers and the Families are invited to eat for free," he said. "The hotel provides this game night as well as a meal for the Families."

The PAL program

The new hotels are made possible through the Privatized Army Lodging, or PAL, program, a partnership between the Army and the private lodging industry.

The PAL program was created in response to the Army's need for new and replacement lodging in a short time span.

"In the Army specifically, lodging facilities were in poor condition, and they didn't have the funding available to renovate them. What PAL allowed them to do was to raise private capital to fund the upgrades," Lloyd said.

"You're taking Lend Lease and IHG, two private sector leaders in development and hotel operations, and you're bringing all those skills and resources to the table, so I think it's a win-win," she added.

The PAL program is similar to the Army's privatized housing initiative, but takes a portfolio approach, managing lodging on all 39 Army installations, she said.

Profits from all of the hotels "are locked away in a reinvestment account, and that's how these hotels are maintained over the next 50 years," she said.

The new on-post hotels will also save official travelers Army travel money, since rates are based on a 75 percent per diem rate, on average, she added.

For more information, visit www.pal.army.mil.