Barbara Barden, executive director of the Livingston County Convention and Visitors Bureau, says that while hotel rooms in general are a bit overbuilt in Livingston County, the "high-end" segment of the market is currently underserved.

The three-story, 72,000 sf hotel would have 92 one- and two-bedroom suites, some equipped with spas. The Homewood Suites is part of the Hilton worldwide chain that includes Hilton, Hampton Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels and Conrad Hotels.

Homewood Suites by Hilton recently won recognition as "highest in guest satisfaction among extended-stay hotel chains" in the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study. The Homewood Suites chain was started in 1989 and now has over 125 hotels open and about 50 more in the planning stage.

Namou said the new hotel would not compete either with his own Holiday Inn Express and Suites or the Hampton Inn, which is part of the Hilton group. That's because the new hotel will be an extended-stay facility with a three-day average stay, he said.

Livingston County now has 770 hotel and motel rooms, and the arrival of the two new hotels would increase that figure to 980: 118 rooms at the planned Hampton Inn and 92 at the Homewood Suites by Hilton.

If the Homewood Suites hotel is approved, it would mark two major chain hotels virtually across the street from each other, doubling the number of hotels in the immediate Brighton area. The Holiday Inn Express and Suites is a short distance away, next to the eastbound I-96 Grand River exit ramp, and the Courtyard by Marriott is next to westbound I-96 on Conference Center Drive, off West Grand River Avenue.

A 6,300-sf Japanese steakhouse is proposed in Phase II of the plan on a 1.4-acre site just north of the proposed hotel, although no formal site plan has been filed.