330-room Holiday Inn planned near Outlets

The planning commission voted unanimously May 3 to approve a hotel project for a Holiday Inn and a Holiday Inn Extended Stay on the corner of Leavesley Road and Forest Street near the Premium Outlets, under the condition that the developer further negotiates with the city before presenting the plan to City Council.
The developer, James Suner of the James Group, is negotiating with the city on who is responsible to pay for the widening of the street corner of Forest and Leavesly, which the city recently declared a truck route.  
“At this point, we want to see if there is any obligation for the city to pay for any of those changes,” said Terri Aulman, planning commission chair.
As of now, Suner is responsible for all the street renovations, because the hotels will impact traffic at the
intersection.
“That’s been a bone of contention,” Aulman said.
If the project comes to fruition, 330 new hotel rooms will spring up in Gilroy – 180 in the traditional hotel and 150 in the extended stay wing.
“The city’s really promoting Gilroy as a destination point, and I know the Welcome Center is working hard toward that too. But you got to have a good place to stay,” Aulman said. “That’s why I’m excited for this project to move forward.”
Aulman said the project will likely move ahead quickly once the street corner issue is resolved with the city.
Jane Howard, Welcome Center director, said she is excited to see a timeline for the project in the near future.
She said that adding more accomodations to “hotel row” on Leavesly Road will boost Gilroy’s reputation as an overnight destination.
The other bonus of having another hotel, Howard said, is that more people will stay in the city the weekend of the Garlic Festival.
“As it is now, we have to send some people out of town. But we’d rather keep them right here in Gilroy,” Howard said.
City Engineer Don Dey said City Council will discuss the hotel project during their regular meeting on May 21.