February 29, 2016

Hotel Developer Targets Schilling Farms


By Terry Hollahan
– The Memphis Business Journal –

Master Hospitality Services, Inc. Memphis-based hotel developer Founded: 1992 President: Tom Ricketts Address: 1919 Lynnfield Road, Suite B Phone: 684-1235 Web site: www.masterhospitality.com Memphis Developments: Courtyard by Marriott, Wolf River & Lenox Park; Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn, both at Poplar and Johnson Road in Germantown

Memphis-based Master Hospitality Services, Inc. will introduce the latest concept developed by Marriott International when it begins developing a $6.5 million hotel at Schilling Farms in Collierville.

Construction on the four-story, 92-unit hotel with meeting facilities for up to 40 people could begin in late March. Completion is expected in early 2001, says Tom Ricketts, president of Master Hospitality Services.

To be called SpringHill Suites by Marriott, the new hotel is designed to give guests very distinct living quarters, with the sleeping area in rooms separated from the living area.

"It’s designed to give customers a little more of a home feeling," Ricketts says.

The SpringHill Suites is a new concept Marriott rolled out in 1999 that features rooms about 25% larger than standard hotel rooms.

"It’s really designed for a customer who is going to be in a market four or five days, who wants that additional space beyond just a bedroom," Ricketts says.

A former Fairfield Inn on New Brunswick Road in the Wolfchase area has been converted to a SpringHill Suite model, but the facility at Schilling Farms will be the first "ground-up prototype" in the Memphis market, Ricketts says.

Ricketts, who founded Master Hospitality in 1992, has developed four other hotels in Memphis, all in the East Memphis market, and six Mississippi hotels in Tupelo, Jackson, Granada and Brookhaven. With the new SpringHill Suites, his company will have developed about 950 units.

"We felt it was in the center of commercial use in Schilling Farms," Ricketts says of the location. "It has great visibility from Poplar."

Memphis-based Boyle Investment Company is developing Schilling Farms, a 443-acre, multi-use project that will include 80 acres of office space, 900 homes, 70 acres of distribution space, retail, medical clinics, banks and other developments.

"This is an integral component of an office campus," says Cary Whitehead III, senior vice president of Boyle Investment, just as the nearby YMCA and day care center satisfy primary needs for office users and residents alike in Schilling Farms.

"Our No. 1 office corridor in Memphis is Poplar Avenue toward Germantown," he says. "There is plenty of lodging, but you really have to go out of your way to get to day care and health club facilities."

The master plan links all developments at Schilling Farms through a common sidewalk theme, with tree-lined areas that retain the scenic, rural heritage of old Collierville.

Boyle recently launched its first office development at Schilling Farms, a 62,000-square-foot office/flex facility expandable to 86,000 square feet that should be delivered by late April.

Ricketts says he has tentative plans to develop a 16,000-square-foot office building on a portion of the acreage he purchased from Boyle for the hotel development.

The new SpringHill Suites by Marriott will have an outdoor swimming pool and each room will be equipped with a microwave, small refrigerator and sink in the kitchen area.

Ricketts says the company is still developing a pricing structure for the new hotel.