BLOOMINGTON - Comfort Inn & Suites wants to join the ranks of new hotels in Bloomington-Normal.

Plans are still under review with the city of Bloomington, but Corporate Manager Harry Patel hopes to start construction on a three-story, 69-room hotel on the city's west edge in July.

The hotel, 910 Maple Hill Road, next to the Hampton Inn West and near the west-side Wal-Mart, would open next March.

The Comfort Inn & Suites joins a growing list of area hotels in the works.

The Hampton Inn & Suites and the Candlewood Suites both opened this spring in Normal. Hotels under con-struction in the Twin Cities include the Fairfield Inn & Suites, the Holiday Inn & Suites, Marriott Hotel and Con-ference Center, AmericInn and Sleep Inn Hotel.

Travelers can pick from 31 open hotels and 2,821 rooms in McLean County, according to the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. The six other planned hotels would add 649 more rooms.

"Our hotels right now are very prosperous," said Crystal Howard, director of the visitors center. "Anytime you have a prosperous hotel community and visitors coming in, it catches the eye of everyone else."

Patel, also corporate manager for the Hampton Inn West, wants to open the Comfort Inn & Suites to capitalize on the lack of an all-suite, extended stay hotel on the west side.

The Comfort Inn & Suites will have suites with a living room and a bedroom, Patel said. All rooms also will have a microwave, refrigerator and a 27-inch flat screen television. Amenities include an outdoor pool, a meeting room and a fitness center, Patel said.

The $2.5 million hotel is targeted toward guests who would stay about three days to a week, Patel said.

He envisions that State Farm Insurance Cos. and Mitsubishi Motors North America employees and families on vacation would be regular guests.