FAIRHOPE, Ala.—The Hampton Inn opened its doors Friday afternoon, and the Fairhope Parking Authority assumed formal responsibility that day for the adjacent three-story parking deck.

“There aren’t many Hampton Inns that look like this one,” said Lorie Blue, general manager of the new hotel on Section Street. “It’s an amazing building. It has more of a downtown feel and local flair than many do.”

Developed by Charlie Bassett through his company, Fairhope Hospitality Group LLC, the hotel project ran into a hurdle in the fall of 2007. A towering live oak tree on the property, protected by city ordinances, resulted in several meetings between the city’s Tree Committee, local merchants, Bassett and consultants, to develop a plan for saving the tree while moving forward with the construction.

“It turned out well, but I’ve never done anything like it before,” said John Pate, of J.F.. Contractors, the general contractor on the hotel and parking deck projects, pointing Friday at the tree’s canopy through windows on a fourth-floor hallway. Some large limbs come within an inch of the building. A special courtyard was built around the tree.

The hotel’s first guests, Pat and Jim Darden from Grayson, Ga., checked in Friday afternoon.

“They are traveling around the South and said this was the only hotel they found as they came into Fairhope and decided to pull in,” said Blue, who has managed Hampton Inn hotels in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Panama City, Fla.

Blue said the 89-room hotel, with rates from $139 to $179 a night, is expected to have about a 30-percent occupancy during the rest of this month, and that some weddings have already been booked.

The total cost of the hotel and parking deck is about $14 million, Bassett said recently.

Scheduled for completion by the Christmas shopping season last year, the projects were slowed down by rain and other delays, Pate said earlier this year.

The three-story, 250-space parking deck has been open several weeks, but the city has withheld a public announcement until some remaining jobs can be finished, such as the paving of a side alley, said Barry Fulford, the city’s building official.

The city will take over paving of that alley, with the contractor providing much of the funding, which should occur in the next few weeks, Fulford said.

He said there were also a few small drainage issues and other matters the city will resolve before all final legal details of the transfer to the city are concluded.

The three-story deck will provide free parking to the public and Hampton Inn guests, with 89 spaces reserved for hotel customers, he said.

Members of the city’s parking authority met Friday morning in the parking deck to formally assume responsibility for the facility.

“Our main purpose is to take the last step to accept the public parking deck,” said Bill Baldwin, chairman of the parking authority.

The group voted unanimously to accept the facility, which will be managed by the city.

Although no announcement has been made to the public, downtown merchants were advised it was open, so their employees could start parking there, opening up street spaces for customers and visitors, he said. A grand opening and ribbon-cutting for both projects will occur in the near future.

Interim Police Chief Terry Sanders also attended Friday’s meeting and said he was working with city staff to determine what kind of video cameras should be installed at the facility for security.

Several parking authority members wanted to know how parking would be enforced, for example, if Hampton Inn guests are parking in public spaces and vice versa.

Fulford said a written agreement exists between the city and the hotel, that outlines some of those issues, with plans for handling repeat offenders over a 10-day period.

“I think taking it in steps is the reasonable thing to do,” Sanders said.

The Fairhope Parking Authority comprises Ben Barnhill, Rick Brenny, Beth Fugard, Marc Miller, Bill Baldwin and Mike Lyons. The city’s new Web site that lists committee membership states that the terms of office are for three years. But the Code of Ordinances states that terms are for four years for seven members. All current members’ terms have expired, according to city records, and there is one vacancy on the group, but they continue to hold those positions until their successors can be named, or they are reappointed, city officials said.

The Fairhope Parking Authority was created by a special act of the legislature and a local referendum in 1973, according to city law.