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Steamboat Springs — Holiday Inn Steamboat Springs owner Scott Marr said the decision to add 35 suites and an indoor pool to his U.S. Highway 40 hotel later this summer was made independently of the recession.

"The economy right now doesn't have any impact," Marr said. "We're looking out 18 months to the fall of 2010. We've seen growth in occupancy rates and demand for seven years, although we're in a little hiccup right now."

The existing 82 rooms in the 30-year-old property are traditional hotel rooms. Marr said he would make the most of the addition to add two-room suites to his hotel.

"They'll have little kitchens with microwaves and a small fridge," Marr said.

The addition will be built on the east side of the hotel where a 2-acre parcel of undeveloped land already owned by Marr stretches the width of the existing hotel. The site is across a private paved road from the existing Indian Meadows townhomes and a large pond that is part of that residential development.

Construction is being delayed to miss the height of the summer tourism season.

"We plan to wait until after June, July and August to get past the last Triple Crown (baseball) tournament," Marr said. "We hope to get the shell of the building up before the snow arrives.

The general contractor on the job is Holmquist Lorenz Construction.

In addition to the new guest suites, Marr said the expansion includes an indoor swimming pool and 1,000-square-foot fitness center.

Documents on file at the city Planning Department show that the Holiday Inn already had a vested approval for a very similar addition. The original Holiday Inn Steamboat Springs was built in 1973 and saw a 35,000-square-foot addition in 1989. The new two-story addition comprises 20,000 square feet.

The hotel has agreed to build a sidewalk along its frontage on the highway and close one of two traffic entrances on the highway.