Wednesday, February 15, 2006

New rooms in Socorro

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

ECRONCE ecronce@dchieftain.com

Two new motels are scheduled to open this fall in Socorro. The combination of the two facilities will add 143 more motel rooms to those already available.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker is building a new Holiday Inn Express on California Street just south of the current Holiday Inn Express.

Bhasker explained that the current Holiday Inn Express is 10 years old now. A Holiday Inn Express must be re-franchised every 10 years. The corporation will not re-franchise a Holiday Inn that is built with an exterior corridor as is in the current facility. To remedy the situation, Bhasker is building a new building to house the Holiday Inn Express.

The current Holiday Inn Express will join the Best Western motel chain . According to Bhasker, both facilities will  associated with the Holiday Inn Express.

The new Holiday Inn Express will have 77 rooms, while the soon-to-be Best Western has 102 rooms. Bhasker said he expects to be hiring about 25 more people to work at the new Holiday Inn Express.

In the northern part of Socorro, a new Comfort Inn is under construction. Bhasker said that the new Comfort Inn is being built by Peter Patel and will provide 66 rooms.

The mild, dry weather is contributing to both construction projects being on schedule. The Comfort Inn is scheduled to open in September, while the new Holiday Inn Express is scheduled to open in October. Both facilities are expected to be ready and open for business in time for November and the Festival of the Cranes, one of Socorro's most heavily attended events.

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