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The empty site where the Oxford Suites Hotel is slated to be built in Silverdale amounts to little more than a hole in the ground at this point in time. |
In 2003 Bend, Oregon-based Baney Corporation, which owns and operates the Oxford Inn and Oxford Suites hotels, purchased land along Bayshore Drive, adjacent to the Dyes Inlet waterfront, with plans to build a new 104-bed hotel. A flurry of construction activity began on the lot in mid-2005, and then stalled out.
Currently the Oxford Suites hotel project is little more than a hole in the ground marked off by orange construction tape. Although the Oxford Suites Web site shows a flag next to Silverdale on its map of hotel locations, no other information is available on the site about the hotel.
“They ran into an engineering problem,” said Patrick Boyle of Reid Real Estate in Silverdale and a principal of Shore Drive Associates, the company that sold Baney Corporation the land.
According to Boyle, when work began with the sewer and water systems on the property it became apparent that the building would be taller than originally planned. So developers had to go back to the drawing board and redesign the building to accommodate this unexpected hitch.
Randy Mitchell, the project manager for the hotel development, maintains that there were no engineering issues.
“Design changes in the building put the project on hold,” said Mitchell, “There was not an issue.” The exterior of the building will look the same as originally designed, he said, but the interior has been reconfigured. The changes will not result in any room losses.
Officials at Baney Corporation could not be reached for comment.
Groundbreaking for the hotel has been rescheduled for later this spring. | 
