By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A new 70-room hotel in Alabaster’s Propst Promenade shopping center is set to open in mid-February, the hotel’s owners announced on Jan 31.

Crews broke ground on the new Holiday Inn Express and Suites in March 2015, marking the second hotel to come to the large shopping center off Interstate 65. The new hotel is next to Candlewood Inns and Suites at 1000 Balmoral Drive, which is off Alabaster Boulevard behind the shopping center’s main retail area.

The hotel will open to guests on Feb. 14, and will have a formal grand-opening ceremony with area chambers of commerce and local officials in March, said Bill RouLaine, the hotel’s director of operations and marketing.

“Conveniently nestled amongst a wide variety of restaurants, bars and shopping, Holiday Inn Express and Suites is destined to become the hotel of choice for travelers along the I-65 corridor,” RouLaine wrote in a press release. “The hotel provides guests with all the modern conveniences, services and facilities expected of a Holiday Inn Express and Suites hotel. We are thrilled to extend a warm welcome and our friendly services to guests to Holiday Inn Express and Suites Alabaster.”

The Alabaster Holiday Inn Express and Suites will be one of the first in Alabama to feature the hotel brand’s new design. The hotel will feature free Wi-Fi throughout the building, free sit-down and “Grab and Go” breakfast options, a choice of soft and firm pillows in each room, a self-service business center and laundry room, a 24-hour fitness center and an indoor swimming pool.

Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon previously said the new hotel will meet a “major need” in the city, as retail and industrial growth in the city over the years has created a demand for more local lodging.