KALAMAZOO, MI -- A Holiday Inn & Suites and a Holiday Inn Express will be the first two hotels to become established at the Westgate development, the 140-acre retail, commercial and residential area that is under development along U.S. 131 north of West Main Street.

"We are projecting three hotels and four restaurants," the developer of the huge new development said. The $100 million project, which was originally called The Gateway, will involve the redevelopment of a 140-acre site in Oshtemo Township

It is taking shape above (north of) the TGI Fridays location and behind (west of) two residential complexes, the Evergreen North Apartments and Summer Ridge Apartments.

Comparing it to the 40-acre retail/commercial center he and his firm AVB Inc. opened in November of 2014, developer Joseph Gesmundo said, "It's going to be the Corner@Drake but on a larger scale. This will be about 140 acres. The Corner@Drake is about 40."

Westgate will be about 2 miles north of The Corner@Drake, which opened in November of 2014 on Stadium Drive just east of U,S, 131. Westgate's businesses will also overlook U.S. 131.

"I like highway access," said Gesmundo, who is putting to use land that he and some partners have amassed over many years.

The Corner@Drake has become home to the area's first Costco warehouse membership club store, a Field & Stream outdoor recreation store and other businesses.

"I think it's good," Oshtemo Township Supervisor Libby Heiny-Cogswell said of growth and having businesses that want o be in the township. "The community is growing and we have U.S. 131 and we're not too far from I-94 so we seem to be an attractive place. That's good in a lot of ways."

But she said, "We're trying to manage the growth as well. So those residences and people who live here, any impacts to them are minimized."

A planning and zoning application for the two hotels was filed in October by two limited liability corporations that provided a Bloomfield Hills address. They are Kalamazoo Hotels LLC and Oshtemo Hotels LLC. Site plans for the two hotels were approved by the Oshtemo Township Planning Commission on Jan. 12, but the applicant has not yet applied for a building permit, according to Zoning Administrator Ben Clark.

The Holiday Inn at 2747 S. 11th St. (located south of Stadium Drive and just west of U.S. 131) is soon to become a Delta Hotel by Marriott. Kalamazoo Hotel Group LLC purchased the property on Nov. 20, including its 24,000-square-foot former bowling alley with plans to convert that into a conference center.

The Holiday Inn & Suites hotel brand will be reestablished at Westgate. The Holiday Inn Express will be the second in the Greater Kalamazoo area. There is another at 3630 E. Cork St.

Gesmundo said he is working to sign agreements with prospective tenants for spaces that are to be available for stores and other commercial uses as Westgate is developed in phases.

"It will be some of everything," Gesmundo said. "There will be probably four restaurants in the front (directly behind the space now used by TGI Fridays restaurant at 5650 W. Main St.), three hotels, and that will consume about 20 acres. So then there will probably be another 80 acres of retail and then the balance will probably be residential."

Assuming plans pass muster with the township, construction of the first hotel is to begin this spring. Work on the second hotel is to begin in 2018. Work on the third hotel, which may be one with an extended-stay concept, is not expected before 2019.

Gesmundo said the first phase will involve the hotels and restaurants, as well as one fairly large retailer and a lot of site-balancing work. It will involve about 20 acres of the property and cost about $40 million.