The Osprey Pointe development near the river in Pasco is set to get two higher-end hotels.
James and Meredith Sexton of JMS Construction Inc. recently signed franchise agreements for a Wyndham and a Wyndham Garden. They’ll build the Wyndham first, followed by the Wyndham Garden.
“In the spring we’ll start sitting down with our architects and start designing,” James Sexton said, adding that, “We think within the next 2 ½ years, we’ll start building.”
Meredith Sexton is leading the project, opening up benefits for being a woman-owned business.
The Sextons envision the two hotels being connected by a skybridge.
The Wyndham will be closest to the river and be larger, with up to 350 rooms, the Sextons said.
“We’re looking for an open yet welcoming/comfortable feel that highlights the Columbia River and our surrounding landscape,” they wrote in a September newsletter. “This is a full-service hotel with banquet rooms, exercise room, maybe an indoor-outdoor pool, we’d like decks overlooking the river, a planned restaurant on the roof, and we would like to have bike, kayak and paddleboard rentals available.”
The Wyndham Garden will be smaller, with up to 250 rooms, the Sextons said.
It will be inspired by nature and “bringing the outside in,” they said.
They like that the Wyndham allows for more flexibility and control in design.
“They give you the opportunity to design it how you want it, as long as it fits within the parameters,” Meredith Sexton said. “We said that we’d like to showcase the river, our landscape.”
The hotels will be part of the long-planned Osprey Pointe development totaling about 55 acres on the Columbia River in Pasco. JMS Construction Inc. has a development agreement with the Port of Pasco for the project, which also is set to include hundreds of homes, restaurants, a marketplace, enhanced waterfront access, concert venues and more.
In August, the Sextons started the Osprey Pointe OZ Holdings II LLC, which is a qualified opportunity zone fund, to raise $97 million for the first phase, including two four-story mixed-use buildings with commercial and apartment space, a two-story commercial building, a Riverfront Marketplace with a banquet room and office space, and the riverfront hotel, their website says. An opportunity zone fund is an economic development tool that provides tax benefits to investors.
If they can raise enough through the fund, it will speed up the development of the project.