Two Comfort Inn hotels in Hampton Roads are getting updates

Commonwealth Lodging Management LLC is managing two renovation projects at Comfort Inn hotels in Virginia Beach and Newport News. The Comfort Inn at the beach at 2321 Atlantic Ave. is getting a $3 million overhaul this winter and will be upgraded to the Comfort Suites Beachfront brand in spring 2014.

In Newport News, The Comfort Inn at 12330 Jefferson Ave. will get a redesigned lobby and updated guest rooms, with the work scheduled for completion by March 2014.

Commonwealth Lodging, based in Virginia Beach, assumed management of the oceanfront hotel in May when it was purchased by a group of local investors led by Timothy J. Stiffler, the company’s president. “This is a great hotel with all oceanfront suites and an excellent location in the heart of the Virginia Beach resort area,” he said in a statement. “We are very excited about offering Virginia Beach visitors a fresh, new, all-suites hotel complete with modern amenities …”

All of the hotel’s two-room oceanfront suites will be renovated. Plans include upgraded bathrooms and décor, a new oceanfront meeting room, new oceanfront fitness facility, a business center, and an updated lobby. The redesign also includes the addition of four new luxury penthouse suites and an outdoor pool deck with fire pits and soft seating.

The project’s interior designer is Richmond-based International Design Inc., and the architect is Saunders + Crouse Architects in Virginia Beach.

SB Ballard Construction Co., with offices in Virginia Beach and Richmond, is serving as general contractor. The hotel will remain open during renovations.

The Comfort Inn Newport News is owned by an affiliate of Harbor Group International, a global real estate investment firm based in Norfolk. Commonwealth Lodging assumed management of the property in July.
The hospitality management and consulting firm, founded in 2009 under the name of Afton Hospitality, has managed more than 20 hotels from Virginia to Georgia, including independent hotels and franchise locations for Marriott International, Choice Hotels and Wyndham Hotel Group brands.