Outrigger
breaks ground on
Denver hotel

The Hawaii hotel company
developed and will manage the
157-room Denver Airport
Hilton Garden Inn

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

The first mainland hotel development project by the Kelley family, owners of Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, has begun with a ground-breaking ceremony for the 157-room Denver Airport Hilton Garden Inn.

The six-story, mid-market hotel in Gateway Park, near Denver International Airport, is expected to open for business in the first quarter of 1999, Outrigger said today.

The hotel will be managed by Outrigger Lodging Services. The development partnership, Gateway Hotel LLC, is headed by Outrigger Lodging and Millennium Hotels LLC, two of the Kelley family companies. The third partner is DIA Hotel Investors LLC, a partnership of the Gallery family, founders of a food-service equipment company called Carts of Colorado Inc.

The hotel will feature a 3,000-square-foot guest reception pavilion, three meeting rooms and a 62-seat restaurant, as well as a pool, and an exercise room. To help the business traveler, each guest room will have a work desk with a computer shelf, two two-line telephones and data ports.

Richard Kelley, chairman of Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and its parent, Outrigger Enterprises Inc., said there is a strong demand for a mid-priced hotel and Hilton Garden Inns are known for value and service.

Kelley lives part-time in Denver and has other mainland interests, including a minority share in a hotel-casino development in Nevada. Outrigger has based its worldwide reservations center in Denver since 1992.