Heart of America Restaurants & Inns plans to begin construction on two hotels in Greater Des Moines in 2006: an 83-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott south of Des Moines International Airport, with an expected opening in early 2007, and a 137-room Holiday Inn on the northwest corner of 60th Street and George M. Mills Civic Parkway in the Galleria development in West Des Moines, slated for a summer 2007 opening.

The South Side hotel is planned for a site at the corner of Fleur Drive and Rittenhouse Street adjacent to two existing Heart of America facilities, Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse and the Radisson Hotel Des Moines Airport.

It will conform to the latest Fairfield Inn & Suites prototype, which includes an indoor swimming pool, a whirlpool, a fitness center and a 24-hour business center. The hotel will offer free wireless Internet service, food service from Johnny’s Steakhouse and shuttle service to the airport and downtown destinations.

The Marriott planned for West Des Moines, not far from Jordan Creek Town Center, will feature 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a full-service restaurant.

Mike Whalen founded Heart of America in 1978 with one diner in Davenport, and the company now operates nine hotels and 17 restaurants in six Midwestern states. Its other properties in Greater Des Moines include the Wildwood Lodge in Clive and The Iowa Machine Shed restaurant and the Comfort Suites and Sleep Inn hotels, all of which are near Living History Farms in Urbandale.

The company also has submitted a proposal for development of a vacant site downtown at Fourth Street and Court Avenue, and that plan also calls for a hotel. Heart of America was one of five developers who recently laid out their ideas for a committee that reports to the Des Moines City Council.

Its $23 million plan calls for a five-story hotel with 100 to 115 rooms, about 26 surface parking spaces, a three-story building for residential and commercial use and an outdoor public space.

Company Vice President Rob Williams told the committee that Heart of America wants to build the hotel and plaza in one phase, to be followed by the residential and commercial building, which would include a “Trader Joe’s-type” market selling meat, produce and other items.

Williams said the Court Avenue hotel would be designed to offer “the flavor of an upscale hotel at a more realistic price point.”

The City Council is expected to discuss the five Court Avenue proposals soon.