David Proch-Wilson, project manager for the hotel being developed by Newcastle Hotels, a Connecticut-based company that will operate the facility, tells GlobeSt.com that construction will begin in about a week. Ground was originally supposed to be broken last spring but a change in contractors delayed the project. Then the early fall start date coincided with the terror attacks and while Proch-Wilson says that all the funding was committed, the logistics of getting everything signed forced additional delays.

Proch-Wilsin insists that the recent delays had nothing to do with the developer's skittishness over the impact the recent events had on the lodging industry here. "This hotel won't be open for over a year and changes in the hotel industry won't impact it," he says. Proch-Wilson declined to reveal how much the project will cost but unconfirmed estimates put the project's cost at $20 million. In addition to lodging, the project includes a restaurant, a below-ground parking lot and reconstruction of the Webster Street roadway.