The total active U.S. hotel development pipeline comprises 2,716 projects totaling 290,989 rooms, according to the February 2012 STR/McGraw Hill Construction Dodge Pipeline Report.
This represents a 5.6% decrease in the number of rooms in the total active pipeline compared to February 2011.
“We continue to see new construction in many of the largest U.S. hotel markets,” said Duane Vinson, vice president of database content and integrity at STR. “New York, Orlando, the Washington, D.C. metro area, Chicago and Nashville round out the top five in rooms in the In Construction phase. Even though it is a relatively small market with only 36,000 existing rooms, Nashville is near the top of the list with more than 1,300 rooms in the final phase of development. Las Vegas is notably quiet with a mere 126 rooms.”
Regional construction in the South and Southeast is down considerably. States that saw significant building a few years ago such as Florida and Texas have now gone comparatively dormant. Those markets that are seeing a decline include Miami at 26.2%, Atlanta at 34.6%, Houston at 39.7%, New Orleans at 49.3% and Dallas, which is down a full 90%.
Among the Top 10 markets by rooms in the “in construction” phase, New York City reported the most rooms under construction with 7,296, a 17.2% increase over February 2011. Orlando, Florida, followed New York with 3,265 rooms under construction, a 29.7% increase over last year, followed by Washington, D.C., Chicago and Nashville, Tennessee.