A Florida developer has applied to build a six-story hotel on Fore Street, the latest in a series of planned hotels to feed Portland’s hot tourism market.

Developers plan to build the hotel at 203 Fore St. on an existing parking lot bordered by Fore, India and Middle streets, next to the downtown Hampton Inn.

The proposed 128-room hotel will also have a parking garage and outdoor parking for 120 vehicles, a common area, restaurant and retail space on the ground level, and a rooftop bar on the fifth floor. The anticipated cost of the project was not disclosed in the application filed with the city on Oct. 11. According to developers, the project meets requirements in the development zone.

The Fore Street project and two other hotels proposed this year could add more than 400 rooms to downtown Portland.

The development application was filed by Richard Mielbye of Miel’s Development Group in West Palm Beach, Florida. The owner of the property is a subsidiary of Chatham Lodging Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment company that owns 38 hotels in the U.S. The Chatham trust shares a West Palm Beach mailing address with Miel’s Development Group.

Chatham focuses primarily on “upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels,” according to its 2016 annual report. Chatham hotel brands include Hilton Gardens, Courtyard, Homewood Suites and Residence Inn.

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The company does not own any properties in Maine, but has three hotels in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire, according to its 2016 annual report.

Stephanie and Richard Mielbye, named as applicants on project documents, did not return calls or an email Wednesday seeking more information about the development.

The hotel proposal might be on a planning board agenda as early as December, according to Jeff Levine, director of Portland Department of Planning and Urban Development.

The Fore Street project is the third hotel pitched by developers this year. Other proposals are a 150-room boutique hotel branded by the West Elm furniture chain in a redevelopment of Portland’s eastern waterfront and a 128-room hotel and conference center that is part of the planned redevelopment of the Rufus Deering Lumber Co. yard on Commercial Street.

Hotel developments overall have added more than 730 hotel rooms to Portland since 2012, but occupancy rates have increased, from 59 percent in 2012 to almost 64 percent last year. During the summer, the city’s hotel occupancy is around 70 percent to 85 percent, according to data from hospitality analysis company STR.

Rates and revenue have also increased. The average daily rate for a hotel room was $133 last year, a 22 percent increase from 2012. Revenue per available room was approximately $85 in 2016, compared to $64 five years before, according to STR.

Peter McGuire can be reached at 791-6325 or at:

pmcguire@pressherald.com

Twitter: @PeteL_McGuire


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