MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown area’s latest hotel, The Cranberry, an 80-room hotel in Cranberry Square in the Cheat Lake area, should be open this fall, giving West Virginia University football fans another lodging option.
Scott Hursong, managing member and investor in The Cranberry Real Estate LLC, the project developer, said the hotel will be an Ascend Collection hotel, part of the Choice International chain.
“The office park location begged for a hotel, with its proximity to (Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa) championship golf, the mountains and Cheat Lake,” Hursong said in an email.
“Being conveniently located at the intersection of I-68 (Exit 10) and the Mon-Fayette Expressway is a definite plus for a hotel property.”
As part of Choice’s Ascend group, The Cranberry will be an upscale, boutique hotel constructed on the site of the former corporate office of Arch Coal Inc. Tenants at Cranberry Square include WVU Medicine, Tropics, MVB Bank and Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. Hursong said Ascend hotel amenities will include in-room workspace and a business center. There will also be meeting and banquet facilities, a café and bar, fitness center and outdoor pool. All rooms will have private balconies.
“It’s possible we could hold our grand opening during one of November’s weekends,” Hursong said.
Hursong, who is partnering with Barbara Alexander, owner and manager of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services’ Cheat Lake office on The Cranberry, did not disclose the dollar value of the hotel, but said it was a “multi-million-dollar” venture. The 30-plus hotel and motel properties in Monongalia and Preston counties are more than 60 percent full on any given night, said Susan Riddle, president and CEO of the Greater Morgantown Convention & Visitors Bureau. Combined, both counties have roughly 2,600 rooms, with the majority in Monongalia County.
