Investors hope $10.2 million deal
for new hotel pays off.
Eleven months ago Bob Parks had a vision for the then-dilapidated Mentor Building on Kitsap Way.
On Wednesday, his grand vision was realized as the Comfort Inn & Suites Bremerton celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Throughout the past week, the newly remodeled Comfort Inn & Suites was rolled out to the public with a series of events, including Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting, aimed at increasing public awareness of Bremerton’s newest conference center and hotel facility.
Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman was among a host of local civic and business leaders who helped Parks and his team of investors and staff in celebrating the latest piece of Bremerton’s revitalization efforts.
“I want to thank you for your confidence and belief in Bremerton, and we hope you make every cent of it back and then some,” Bozeman said.
Louis Mentor, who built the building almost 35 years ago, would be proud to see the building’s transformation, Bozeman said.
“The hotel property is a landmark in the community,” said Comfort Inn & Suites Bremerton Director of Sales Julie Forville. “There is a shortage of meeting space and hotel rooms in the area, the Dream Holiday Development Group was willing to invest in the future of this community and bring the property back.”
That investment came with a $10.2 million price tag and 11 months of work to transform the facility, Forville said.
“We have had tremendous community support, the business community has embraced the re-birth of the hotel property as well,” she said. “We are a large hotel, the largest in the area with ample free parking, large meeting spaces and 155 rooms to self-contain very large events.”
Prior to Comfort Inn & Suites, people looking to book a large venue with a large block of reservations were having to go to Seattle or Tacoma, she noted, adding that Comfort Inn & Suites is unique because it offers 155 guest rooms with more than 11,000-square feet of meeting space and free parking.
The Bremerton Events Dome is an attraction to big holiday parties, larger weddings, reunions and to trade shows with exhibitors and the center anticipates meeting its occupancy goals, she said.
To make that happen, the center is reaching out to populations in the greater Pacific Northwest to raise tourism on the Kitsap Peninsula and showcase the hotel property and meeting space, Forville said.
