Featured Illustration (above): Hutto is making plans to accommodate development of a Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott. Image: Marriott International/Mishra Architecture
By Edmond Ortiz
Hutto (Williamson County)–Hutto officials are finalizing zoning to accommodate a planned Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott that will have 111 guestrooms and stand four stories tall.
The first floor will measure 11,474 square feet, while floors two through four will measure 11,694 square feet each. The project will include 126 parking spaces, pool, boardroom, fitness center and small market store. The type of construction will be wood-framed with floor joists and Gypcrete.
City Council is poised to meet one more time within the next month to approve the first reading of an ordinance that zones 2.24 acres at 415 Ed Schmidt Boulevard as Planned Unit Development (PUD) to support the hotelier’s proposed structure height.
Council considered the first reading of the ordinance Dec. 5, but some local officials cited a possible technical discrepancy in the exact lots that the hotelier wants zoned as PUD.
The city granted the project a special use permit earlier in 2019 that prohibits room windows facing the nearby Emory Farms residential neighborhood.
The front of the hotel would face Texas Highway 79, to the south. This location is on the city’s West Side near a several chain retailers.
“The Planned Unit Development process and zoning designation allows creativity, innovation and flexibility in land use, density, site planning and design for a parcel that would result in a project more appropriate and desirable than what would result from strict application of the UDC,” city staffers wrote in a report.
Mishra Architecture, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the lead architect. Mishra specializes in residential and commercial projects, with the latter focusing on boutique hotels and small retail centers.
Allied Consulting Engineers, also from Charlotte, is the mechanical/electrical/plumbing engineer. Whisonant Engineering Services of Lexington, South Carolina, is the structural engineer.
The project paperwork on file with the city does not reveal the estimated construction cost or timeline.
