Amtrak will open a 72-room hotel entirely inside Baltimore's historic and increasingly busy Pennsylvania Station in the next two years, the developer and Amtrak confirmed yesterday.
The developer, Columbia-based James M. Jost & Co. Inc., plans to begin construction on a moderately priced hotel next summer and spend a year converting second-, third- and fourth-floor offices into guest rooms. The rooms will be accessible from an elevator in the train station's lobby.
"The only change commuters will see from the lobby will be hotel signage," said James M. Jost, the company's owner.
A company formed by Jost will own the hotel and lease the space from Amtrak - possibly the first arrangement of its kind for the passenger railroad.
A hotel flag, or brand, has not been determined, nor have room rates, Jost said.
The developer said he was chosen about two years ago by Amtrak for the project, which is expected to cost about $5 million. But he said that Amtrak delayed the development because it was using the office space.
About 100 police, customer service and maintenance workers will have to move to other Amtrak offices in Baltimore.
The developer has built hotels in Maryland and Virginia, including a Residence Inn, Hawthorn Suites, Comfort Inn and Hampton Inn. Jost said he had interest from hotel chains for the Penn Station project, but he declined to identify the interested companies.
He said the proposed Baltimore hotel was appealing because of its location.
"It's an attractive development in that there are demand generators nearby in the University of Baltimore and the existing railroad," Jost said. "The new [high speed] Acela train will produce a great increase in railroad traffic."
`A hotel could work'
Rod Petrik, a managing director at Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. and hotel expert, said a hotel could work inside Penn Station provided it is not too expensive, demand for rooms picks up in the next two years, and the area surrounding the station improves.
He said the planned hotel is not that big but could help the city when conventions require more than Baltimore's 7,400 rooms at once. Often, visitors must go to suburban hotels.
But first, Petrik said, Jost will need to sign on a well-known flag to attract lenders in a tough financing environment.
