Butler is not the only third-class city in Western Pennsylvania that hopes a hotel can help revitalize its downtown.

A proposed 83-room, four-floor Wingate hotel in downtown Altoona is expected to be completed in August 2016.

It will be the first hotel in that downtown since the 1980s.

Lee Slusser, the director of planning and community development for Altoona, said the UPMC Hospital and Penn State’s branch campus there are driving the need for the hotel.

“We have a main commercial strip a couple miles away,” Slusser said, adding it’s where the majority of shopping centers and restaurants are located. It’s also where the closest hotels are to the city of about 46,000 people in Blair County southeast of Butler County.

“For years people would come into town for something but would then leave to stay in a hotel,” Slusser said.

The area has some similarities to Butler, which has successful shopping centers and hotels a couple miles away in Butler Township.

Butler officials hope the Centre City project — which includes a proposed Marriott Springhill Suites hotel, a 239-space parking garage and a completed Rite Aid pharmacy — will kick-start development downtown.

A groundbreaking for the hotel in Butler, which is being built in a public-private partnership, is nearing, according to its developer.

Paul Dunn, project manager with J.S. Capitol Construction, said he expects to present plans and renderings of the structure to city council for comments this month.

“We’re probably two or three weeks away from getting our building permit,” Dunn said, adding the groundbreaking of the hotel is expected this summer.

The city redevelopment authority will own 36 percent of the hotel’s stake, while J.S. Capitol will own the rest.

The hotel will take about a year to complete.

“That’s if it ever stops raining,” Dunn said.

The hotel in Altoona will be built by a private developer, but public interest in the structure remains.

Slusser said the city hopes the hotel can increase foot traffic downtown.

“Our downtown is fairly underutilized,” Slusser said. “We’re not a county seat, and we don’t have a large corporate presence.”

The proposed hotel is within walking distance of the UPMC hospital in Altoona. The Penn State Altoona branch campus also has a half-dozen building downtown.

“Those are the larger employers,” Slusser said. “We’re looking to redevelop through the hospital and the Penn State campus. They triggered the need for the hotel.”

Slusser said he expects construction on the hotel to begin this fall or winter.