With an eye toward a spring 2024 opening, Cambria Hotels held a groundbreaking ceremony June 2 for the company’s first Delaware location near Rehoboth Beach.

Named Cambria Hotel Rehoboth Beach, the new 114-room, four-story building is located off Route 24, on an open parcel of land between Delaware Eye Institute and Beebe Healthcare’s Rehoboth campus.

The Cambria Hotel Rehoboth Beach is being developed by Tauhid Islam of Pinnacle Hospitality Group, which is one of the largest hotel developers in Maryland and the company that brought the Cambria brand to Ocean City, Md., with Cambria Hotel Ocean City - Bayfront.

Islam said he had been approached about another location in the Cape Region, but he didn’t get a good feeling about it. That property was ultimately developed as a hotel, he said, but this location fits the vision he has.

Islam listed off a number of the amenities the hotel will feature, including multi-purpose indoor and outdoor spaces; indoor and outdoor pools; poolside cabanas; a tiki bar; outdoor fire pits for gathering; immersive, spa-style bathrooms with Bluetooth mirrors; 3,800 square feet of multi-function meeting and event spaces; state-of-the-art fitness center; area-inspired design and décor; contemporary and sophisticated guest rooms; and on-site dining featuring freshly made food, local craft beer, wine and specialty cocktails.

“Impossible is not a word that exists in a Google search for me,” said Islam. “This hotel is going to have a sense of space that’s never been seen before in Sussex County.”

Choice Hotels Senior Vice President Janis Cannon said the upscale chain is quickly expanding its footprint and is pleased to see it coming to Delaware. This is the fourth groundbreaking the Cambria brand has had in the past four weeks, she said.

The company isn’t slowing down, she said, as there are currently 60 Cambria hotels open in the United States. These hotels offer a bit of guilt-free luxury, she said.

Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce President Carol Everhart said there’s been incredible tourism growth in the area over the past few years. In 2019, there were 7.75 million visitors, while there were more than 10 million last year, she said.

Overnight accommodations are needed and wanted, said Everhart. Gone are the days when this area was only a summer destination, she said.

Southern Delaware Tourism Executive Director Scott Thomas said tourism is a multibillion-dollar industry in the state, and high-quality hotels are needed to keep guests wanting to come visit in the first place and then return.

The new hotel is one of a number of new construction projects off Route 24, between Route 1 and the intersection of Plantation and Warrington roads – Artisans’ Bank, the Seaglass Apartments, Beebe Healthcare’s Specialty Surgical Hospital and the Residence Inn by Marriott.

A preliminary site plan for the new hotel and restaurant was approved by the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission in October.