The latest update suggests that the oft-delayed Cambria Suites hotel under construction since May 2007 on Reserve Avenue could open during the average Roanoker's lifetime.

Actually, the 127-room hotel should open during the first quarter of 2010, according to Kjell Kaashagen of Wisconsin-based Telemark Hotel Developers. Telemark is the project developer and the Roanoke Hotel Group is the property owner.

Tax rebate incentives from the city are now tied to a March 20 opening.

On Monday, Kaashagen shared another potential development idea for an adjoining parcel -- construction of a high-rise condominium. As envisioned, the condo complex would house physicians recruited to the area by Carilion Clinic, as well as others, he said.

In the redevelopment area along South Jefferson Street and Reserve Avenue Southwest, a new Carilion Clinic building and a new medical school are under construction, and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is just across the Roanoke River.

"Who wouldn't be interested in walking to work?" Kaashagen said.

Telemark acquired the site for the hotel from Carilion in 2006, which had purchased the land previously from the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

The Cambria Suites building's construction has been plagued by numerous snags, including site alterations necessitated by being in a flood plain, a change in architects, a need to restructure financing and a contractual dispute with general contractor J.M. Turner & Co. of Roanoke and subcontractors.

Originally, the hotel was set to open in September, and a $1 million tax rebate incentive program offered by the city and its Economic Development Authority was tied to that date. On Sept. 8, the Roanoke City Council approved a six-month extension for the Roanoke Hotel Group. The new deadline for opening the hotel and for completing a total investment of at least $14.4 million is March 20.

In late 2008 and early 2009, J.M. Turner and subcontractors walked off the job and reported they had not been paid in months.

On Monday, Mike Farris, president of J.M. Turner, said that dispute has been settled.

"We got paid and got all of our subcontractors paid in full," Farris said. "No one was left hanging."

The new general contractor is Maple Creek Construction, also based in Wisconsin. A woman who said she was the company's business manager but would not give her name declined to say when construction work had resumed at the Reserve Avenue site.

Regionally, McNeil Roofing of Roanoke was hired to put on the hotel's roof, said Lee Wilhelm, the company's CEO. Thompson Masonry Contractor of Salem is finishing up some brickwork, said Ronnie Thompson, president. Thompson Masonry was on the job before the dispute between contractors and Telemark caused work to cease.

"They made everything right, and what billing we have done up to this point has gone fine," Thompson said.

Cambria Suites is a franchise brand of Choice Hotels International, a publicly traded company based in Maryland.

Kaashagen acknowledged building the hotel has been a long haul.

"A lot of things have come into play," he said. "I could write a book about this project."