Hotel construction continues across from casino

OXFORD — The $15 million Hampton Inn will be up and running by next summer, Ash Sangani, president of the GIRI Hotel Management in Quincy, Mass., told the Sun Media Group on Tuesday.

Construction of the 92-room, four-floor hotel that is being built directly across from Oxford Casino on Route 26 in Oxford is well underway. This week walls have begun to go up around the three elevator shafts.

Sangani said he was unable to disclose what further plans may be in the works for the 4.3-acre parcel of land.

“My focus is on the hotel,” he said.

On Monday, Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Williams said the hotel is looking for a restaurant to open up next to it and would be willing to construct the building. He said a number of developers are interested in the area, but he could not yet divulge details.

In May, the GIRI Hotel management group signed an agreement with New York-based Calamar to construct the hotel directly across the street from Oxford Casino. The project, which is valued at about $15 million, is expected to be a catalyst for growth in the entire region, local officials have said.

Sangani said scores of local employees have been hired during the construction project.

In addition to 50 to 90 temporary jobs created through construction, the hotel is expected to create 23 part- and full-time jobs, from executive, administrative and clerical positions to maintenance and transportation with salaries from $25,000 to $80,000, according to an application GIRI submitted to the town.

Local officials signed the first credit-enhancement agreement with the Thurlow Family, a group of local landowners who sold the 4.3-acre parcel to GIRI group, to improve the land value through the hotel project in 2013.

The land where the hotel is being built is next to Crestholm Farm Stand on Route 26, directly across from Oxford Casino.

[email protected]