Bellevue may soon be welcoming back Silver Cloud Inns & Hotels as the company unveils plans for a 10-story, 170-room hotel in the city’s downtown core area. Just last month, the hotel operator bid farewell to the Eastside market after selling its property at 14632 SE Eastgate Way to Ignite Hotels, a Richland-based company, for $28 million. However, the company now has early design plans to re-enter the market with a new property.
In 2013, Silver Cloud acquired a half-acre property located at 200 108th St. NE for $7 million, according to public records, where it is planning to expand. Presently, the site is home to a Luther Burbank Savings branch, and in the 1970s, it was known as the Opus Bank building, according to a report in the Puget Sound Business Journal.
The corner lot is a valuable feature for the future property, which plans to have luxurious rooms and even a rooftop pool. Silver Cloud’s development team anticipates meeting with the city this summer to review the plans in greater detail, though they have not yet pursued permits or established a construction timeline.
Silver Cloud CEO James Korbein disclosed that the company’s plans for the downtown hotel influenced the decision to sell their Southeast Eastgate Way property. “We could have waited to sell it, but we had an opportunity, so we took it,” Korbein explained in the report. “We are excited to get back into the Eastside market.”
Silver Cloud presently operates four hotels in Seattle, two in Tacoma, one in Mukilteo, and another in Portland. Additionally, the company recently acquired two properties situated just north of its Silver Cloud Stadium hotel in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood.
While the company explored other types of commercial real estate investments in recent years, its primary focus has now returned to its core expertise: hospitality.
“Tourism is coming back,” emphasized Korbein. “Last Saturday, we had the biggest revenue night in our company’s history. There was a big concert in downtown Seattle which helped, but we did well at all of our properties. Revenues are great.”
However, the hospitality industry still contends with challenges such as escalating expenses and labor shortages, mirroring the issues faced by other sectors of the economy. “We are very happy with the revenue, but it’s hard to find staffing, and the costs of everything [are] going up,” acknowledged Korbein.
Although tourism is rebounding, business-related travel is yet to catch up, with Silver Cloud’s business evenly split between business travel and tourism, Korbein added.
