Hilton Garden Inn opens in northeast Cedar Rapids

A new 100-room Hilton Garden Inn opened at 4640 N. River Blvd. NE near Edgewood Road NE and Highway 100 in Cedar Rapids.

The Lloyd Hospitality Group hotel includes a restaurant with outdoor and indoor dining space, a ballroom large enough to hold 250 guests, fitness center and a 24-hour business center.

Ginger Sickels, the property's general manager, said in a news release Tuesday the restaurant will have 'unique flavors and cocktails” because the chef can implement his own specials.

It is the first Iowa hotel for Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Lloyd Hospitality, which also owns hotels in Kansas City and Sioux Falls. Lloyd Hospitality also is building a Hyatt Place in Rapid City, S.D. The company has offices in Des Moines.

Sickels and Shaun Clasen, sales director, have more than 20 years combined experience working in Eastern Iowa hotels, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Jennifer Seifert-Brenna, Lloyd Hospitality Group's vice president, said constructing the hotel during pandemic and the derecho made the project more challenging.

'We had to adjust and adapt,” Seifert-Brenna said in the release. 'But we never lost sight of the opportunity to bring this exceptional property to Cedar Rapids and our desire to be part of the community,”

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