Ahead of schedule, Embassy Suites Murfreesboro and the long-awaited conference center will open as soon as Thursday with a community fundraiser planned for Saturday night and the facilities’ first conference set for Sept. 15.
The hotel and center will be a huge star in Murfreesboro’s Gateway project just off Interstate 24 and Medical Center Parkway, literally drawing visitors from across the state and country, if not the world.
The need for a top-notch hotel and conference center have been evident for more than a decade but logistics and the huge private financial commitment required made this a community want requiring patience, planning and marketing.
With a major new shopping and dining destination, new top-of-the-line office space, major medical services expansions, notably a new Middle Tennessee Medical Center and Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, one new insurance headquarters building and two prime corporate headquarters sites available, the Gateway project, a sometimes controversial initiative of the City of Murfreesboro, has and will continue to pay dividends beyond even the highest hopes of all but a progressive-thinking few.
Embassy Suites and the conference center will fill a huge need in this community recognized for years, providing a large enough meeting place for any number of civic, educational and business needs in addition to providing an excellent central meeting point for countless state organizations.
Some 120 events and conferences have already been booked.
Murfreesboro’s selection as the host for most state high school sports championships and the virtually always full venues at the MTSU Ag Pavilion and Miller Coliseum are two overwhelming indicators of the value of a central location with easy access, excellent shopping and great and varied dining.
Embassy and the center will greatly expand that value by providing that central meeting place that has been lacking.
Embassy features 283 suites and early viewing opportunities revealed a superb facility with great amenities, including an up-scale new restaurant, appropriately named Gateway Grille, and a ballroom second in size only to those at Opryland.
The hotel will introduce itself to the area public Saturday night as host for a United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties fundraiser, a Rock Around the Clock Tonight event that will feature 50s style food and music and a unique opportunity to be one of the first overnight guests of the new lodging facility. (For information on the event, contact Jenny Grubb at 893-7303.)
Developed and owned by Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts LLC, the leading independent builder, developer, owner and manager of upscale, full-service hotels, the hotel and center are expected to generate more than $23 million in annual revenue and have a projected annual economic impact of $39 million.
That impact will spread across the community, paying dividends to shop owners, eateries and all manner of services existing in our community.
The hotel and conference center will be a huge source of pride for our community and an economic engine for continued prosperity.
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