Hotels aren’t just for interstate interchanges anymore. The Residence Inn by Marriott located on the Jordan Creek Town Center campus is about to be joined by a Hilton Garden Inn across the street, and that appears to be just the start for the rapidly developing neighborhood.

“At least three other hotels are looking within half a mile of Jordan Creek,” said Clyde Evans, the community development director for West Des Moines. “I would imagine that within the next 12 months, construction will start on at least two more hotels.”

One of those is likely to be a Drury Inn facility. “We own two sites in West Des Moines, and we’re looking at starting one hotel in 2006,” said Larry Hasselfeld, a spokesman for the Drury Development Corp. in St. Louis.

When asked what hotel developers are requesting from the city, Evans said: “They’re just asking to get their applications approved. We’re not providing financial incentives.”

Along with continuing construction of retail outlets at Jordan Creek, development is under way at Jordan Crossing east of the mall, and at West Glen Town Center and the Galleria at Jordan Creek. Also, employees are scheduled to begin moving into the huge Wells Fargo Home Mortgage complex this week.

Even though the area lies well off Interstates 35 and 80, hotel developers are confident that plenty of leisure and business travelers will want to spend nights there. A West Des Moines study indicated that 20 percent of the area’s retail purchases are being made by visitors from other states.

“We had a market analysis done, and it said there could be another 1,000 rooms added to that market” without saturating it, said Cheryl Hayes, general manager of the yet-to-be-completed Hilton Garden Inn.

The Residence Inn has 122 rooms, and the Hilton Garden Inn will open next March with 131 rooms. Evans said the next generation of hotels might be bigger.

“We think they’ll run the gamut from 120 to 200-plus rooms,” Evans said. He wouldn’t name companies or pinpoint locations, but noted that the Jordan Creek campus includes two vacant parcels that don’t belong to General Growth Properties Inc., the mall’s developer. Hotel companies “might be looking” at those sites, he said.

Also, he said, “between I-35 and Jordan Creek, we’re going to see lots of development. Hotel builders might be looking there.”

Unlike the major hotels in downtown Des Moines, which compete for large gatherings, the Hilton Garden Inn will have relatively little space set aside for conferences and meetings — about 3,300 square feet. Hayes said hotel management hopes to partner with a company that would attach a restaurant to the hotel and offer banquet facilities.

Evans said West Des Moines officials tried to encourage Marriott to build a larger hotel with a conference center when the Residence Inn was under consideration. “They thought it would eat up too much parking,” he said.

The Residence Inn’s rooms are all suites, with most guests staying at least five nights, according to General Manager Mischa Gitch. “Most of our guests stay 30 nights or more,” she said. “They’re relocating here, or working on a corporate project. Most of them work out in this area, I believe, but some go downtown.”

Gitch said Wells Fargo brings more guests to her hotel than any other corporate customer, even though the mortgage center has yet to open.

Because her hotel specializes in extended-stay customers, Gitch said the Hilton Garden Inn will have a relatively minor impact on the Residence Inn’s business.

Locating a Residence Inn near a shopping center is nothing unusual for Marriott, she said. Even though the guests are in town on business, “they love that they can walk to things,” Gitch said.

Hayes said Hilton management is considering a shuttle service that would offer hotel guests transportation within a five-mile radius and to Des Moines International Airport. “Or we might pay for taxi service,” she said.

Marriott already offers free van service to the airport and charges a fee for transportation to Jordan Creek Town Center from the three hotels it owns and operates at a more traditional location – the intersection of I-80 and Jordan Creek Parkway.

Those three hotels – the West Des Moines Marriott, Spring Hill Suites, which opened last April, and Fairfield Inn and Suites – have a total of 418 rooms.