OGDEN — Despite the global pandemic continuing to stifle travel across the country, a new hotel is set to open in downtown Ogden this week.

On Tuesday, Hilton’s Home2 Suites Ogden will open for lodging at 2405 Lincoln Ave. The hotel’s director of sales, Brittany Wetters, said the four-story property includes 155 rooms and a variety of amenities including a game-filled lobby with a pool table, 24-hour fitness centers, indoor saline pool and hot tub, and three outdoor patio areas with a fire pit and grills.

Developed and owned by Layton-based Garn Development and managed by Western States Lodging Management, the hotel was constructed with the help of a nearly $1.8 million tax incentive, courtesy of Ogden City.

Last year, Ogden City’s Redevelopment Agency board, which is made up of the seven members of the city council, approved a “Participation and Incentive Agreement” with the development firm that authorized $1.77 million in tax incentives to offset costs associated with building the hotel.

The hotel is inside the city’s Kiesel Community Development Area, which was approved by the RDA board in 2015 and includes approximately 39 acres between Kiesel and Wall avenues from 24th Street to 25th Street. The CDA creation authorizes up to $10.4 million in Tax Increment Financing money to be used for redevelopment in the area. TIF involves freezing tax valuations on a property for a specified time period, then using future increases in property tax revenue for redevelopment. The money is often offered to developers as an incentive to build and it can be used for things like street and utility improvements, hazardous waste removal, property acquisition and the demolition of blighted buildings.

Part of the reason the incentive was given for the Hilton facility was that an existing building and parking lot at the location had to be demolished prior to construction. Under the agreement, Garn Development will receive 11 annual tax increment payments from the city, from 2022 to 2032, not to exceed the $1.77 million threshold.

When the deal was solidified, Ogden Deputy Director of Community and Economic Development Brandon Cooper said the new rooms were needed in the Ogden marketplace and the hotel wouldn’t have been built by the private market alone, without the incentive agreement.

In an email to the Standard-Examiner, Wetters described the current state of the hospitality industry as “slow and difficult,” but said the development company stayed the course while construction was ongoing during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping for a turnaround in 2021 and to hopefully provide some jobs for individuals who have been laid off during the last 10 months.

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the hotel industry was among the first impacted by the pandemic and will be one of the last to recover. According to AHLA, nationwide hotel occupancy in urban markets like Ogden is at about 35%, down from nearly 80% one year ago at this time.

And things don’t look to be improving as the holidays near. An AHLA study shows that 69% of Americans are unlikely to travel for Christmas. The organization says business and group travel aren’t expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, compounding the challenges faced by the industry.

For more information on the new Ogden hotel or to make a reservation, visit Home2 Suites by Hilton Ogden and Tru by Hilton Ogden online or call 801-695-9797.