A Springfield hotel developer hopes to build a Holiday Inn Express on South Third Street, potentially ratcheting up the competition among mid-priced hotels in Bend.

Sycan B Corp. is in talks to buy a 2-acre property just south of SubaGuru, said Richard Boyles, president of InnSight Hotel Management Group and a principal in Sycan, the development company. The hotel developer met recently with city of Bend Community Development Department staff to talk about the feasibility of a 100- to 120-room hotel, he said.

Boyles said InnSight is attracted to the strong demand for rooms in Bend, as well as the site, which is southeast of the Murphy Road roundabout. At that location, the Holiday Inn Express would be the first lodging in Bend that’s visible to travelers approaching from the south on U.S. Highway 97, he said. InnSight, which manages several hotels in Oregon and Washington, would manage the Holiday Inn Express, he said.

If Sycan goes ahead with the project, the new hotel would compete with an existing Holiday Inn Express, owned and managed by BHG Hotels of Wilsonville, on N. Highway 97, as well as several others in the same price category.

Hampton Inn & Suites, Comfort Inn & Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites all have a presence in Bend. In addition, Peppertree Hospitality Group of Spokane, Washington, is building a Best Western Premier on the west side near SW Century and Mt. Washington drives.

A Springhill Suites recently opened on SW Industrial Way, between downtown and the Old Mill District, and the same developer that built the Springhill has floated the possibility of a Marriott.

Boyles, who is a member of the Oregon Tourism Commission, said his company has been closely tracking the hotel-demand statistics for Bend, where the average occupancy in March was 69.5 percent, up nearly 3 percentage points from the prior year. Last July, at the peak of tourist season, the average occupancy rate was 88.8 percent, and the average room rate was $163.54.

Boyles said he has confidence in the Holiday Inn Express brand because it has a strong national following.

“Part of it is what brands are available” in Bend, Boyles said. “We think it will out-compete other projects announced.”

Sycan has been trying since at least 2016 to break into Bend. The developer bought the property at NW Wall Street and NE Olney Avenue in January 2016 and has been working on a plan to build an extended-stay hotel under a relatively new brand, Element by Westin.

“This project has been slow to gain traction,” Boyles said of the Element, which he describes as an eco-friendly, millennial-focused brand. The delay is partly because of an unexpected illness on the Sycan team, he said. Sycan probably won’t break ground on the Element, across from Pioneer Park, this construction season, he said.

Boyles declined to offer a timeline for the Holiday Inn Express. “Development is often not really a straight line,” he said.

—Reporter: 541-617-7860, kmclaughlin@bendbulletin.com