This is a rumour but could be promising givin the boutique hotels that are in Vancouver. The Hotel Georgia will be closing down on January 2nd 2006 and will undergo a major renovation/restauration making the rooms larger and reducing the overall number of rooms in the hotel by 100! They say it will be open in time for the 2010 olympics! This would be a great addition for the city and would definetly give the Opus Hotel a run for its money!
Here is the article!
Georgia hotel to retain character
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, December 16, 2006
The Hotel Georgia will close Jan. 2. When it reopens in three years, it will be totally different.
The 12-storey hotel will be renovated and turned into a high-end boutique hotel, like the Wedgewood and the Opus. A 48-storey condo/office tower will rise next door to a height of about 150 metres, making it one of the tallest buildings in Vancouver.
"I think the value of the project is going to be well in excess of $350 or $400 million," says Bruce Langeris of Delta Group, which owns the property along with Goodman Real Estate of Seattle. "It's a big project."
He's not kidding. The public parts of the Georgia -- the exterior facade, wood-panelled lobby and legendary basement bar -- will be restored and retain their original character. The ballroom upstairs will be taken apart piece by piece so that seismic upgrading can be done, then reassembled. But the ballroom will be larger when it's reopened, and the original promenade on the mezzanine beside the ballroom will be restored.
The big changes will be in the upstairs rooms, which are small by today's standards. The rooms will be demolished and rebuilt to a modern luxury-hotel standard.
"We'll reduce the hotel from 313 rooms, which are small, to 200 rooms, plus or minus," says Langeris.
"Our goal is to create a boutique hotel ... and that it will lead the market in Vancouver, from a hotel perspective, in terms of rates and occupancy. We look at the Opus and the Wedgewood, which really set the standard in terms of rates achieved, and we think we can offer what they have and more in terms of presence and amenity and location."
The Georgia is now operated by the Crowne Plaza chain, but another hotel management chain will likely take over. W Hotels was rumoured to be interested, but all Langeris will say is that his company is still looking.
"We had been in discussions with a major hotel group that sort of took the approach that it was a very upfront hotel with a flashy brand name," he says.
"[But] we want a hotel management group that will respect the Hotel Georgia, as opposed to the Hotel Georgia brand and history being pushed into the back and some flashy other name being prominently placed."
Delta Group and Goodman bought the Georgia and the condo site a year ago for $62.8 million. The previous owner had another tower designed by architect Bing Thom, which created a stir when Thom successfully campaigned to make it higher.
Thom is no longer on the project, and his controversial "crystal tower" has been replaced by another striking highrise designed by Jim Hancock and Hilda Heyvaerts of Hancock-Bruckner IBI. Malcolm Elliot and Allan Endall of Endall Elliot are the architects working on the Hotel Georgia restoration.
The project goes to the city's development permit board Feb. 26. Plans for the tower include 35 stories of residential with 156 condos, eight storeys of offices and seven storeys of underground parking.
The condos won't be cheap: Langeris anticipates them going for $1,200 to $1,500 a square foot, which means a 1,000-square-foot condo would be $1.2 million to $1.5 million. Marketing should start next spring or summer, with occupancy in 2010.
"Everybody keeps raising the bar in Vancouver about what the quality is," he says.
"Now it's our turn to see how we can do that." jmackie@png.canwest.com
There are registrations for many other cities that do NOT point to Starwood's site. Most interesting is this one... www.aloftasheville.com
...that points to the Comfort Suites Biltmore Square Mall in Asheville, NC.
While the existance of a website registration is far from meaning that any decision has been made, it may help identify some places that are being or have been evaluated. I recognize that some of the above places have already been confirmed, but some have not been mentioned in this thread.
Edited to add:
W Residences Buckhead (Atlanta area. Either condos only or condo hotel. 18 floors.)
W Hotel Buckhead (3400 Lenox Rd next to the Sheraton Buckhead. Currently seems to be on hold, but this has been in the rumors for several years.)
The www.WResidences.com website currently says, "W Residences are coming soon to up-market neighborhoods in hot cities, such as Boston, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Denver."
I think you will have to wait longer than the 2008 timeframe they have tossed out. I was in LV last month and jogged by the property and NOTHING had been done at the site other than them putting up boards around the property listing "Future home of W LV." Hyatt property at least had major construction going on!
At http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho.../11390644.html
and http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...ntentID=163115 "Las Vegas-based Edge Resorts, developer of the W Las Vegas on Harmon Avenue, has hired Credit Suisse Group of New York to explore "strategic partnerships" in the $1.7 billion mixed-use project, Edge principal Reagan Silber said. The 46-acre property is not being listed for sale, though Silber said he has no doubt that there are investors who would like to buy the land."
****
"Sources in Las Vegas suspect that the land is being put on the market because Starwood is pulling out of the project. Calls to Starwood Senior Vice President Ross Klein in New York and to Credit Suisse were not returned."
The following aloft properties are named in Starwood's system.
aloft Arista - Denver Northwest, CO -- no details available.
aloft Arundel Mills. This is the Hanover, MD, location. Five miles from BWI airport at the Arundel Mills mall. Combined development with an Element hotel. Slated to open Spring 2008.
aloft Baltimore-Washington International Airport. I'm not sure if this is the same as the Baltimore, MD, location or if this is an additional location.
aloft Chandler, AZ -- I guess this could be the Phoenix Airport property, but I don't think so.
aloft Chantilly, VA -- already confirmed.
aloft Charleston Airport & Convention Center, SC -- already confirmed, though name is enhanced.
aloft Charlotte Uptown at the Epicentre -- already confirmed, though name is enhanced.
aloft Minneapolis -- "A swank Starwood aloft property is set to go into the Zenith project near the Guthrie Theater." But a June 2006 article claims that negotiations were leading toward this being a W.
aloft Montreal Airport -- already confirmed.
aloft Nashville - Cool Springs -- no details available.
aloft Portland -- no details available. Maine or Oregon? (I'd guess Oregon.)
aloft Toronto Downtown -- already confirmed, though name is enhanced. See also this old PR for location details. (This same PR discusses the aloft Dorval at Montreal's airport.)
aloft Winchester -- no details available. I'm not even sure which state this is in. MA? VA? Other? (I'd guess MA.)
A correction for the list in post #1. "Nount Laurel" should be "Mount Laurel." (OT: The Westin Mount Laurel is scheduled to open June 1, 2007.")
W Retreat & Spa Martineau Bay -- Vieques, PR, conversion that keeps getting delayed. Name enhancement. (Doesn't bode well for keeping down the SPG category.)
The first two alofts (Rancho Cucamonga and Lexington) just broke ground on 22 Jan, to open 1Q '08. At this rate, they'll be Cat 5...
I'm still surprised to see that so many "hip" aloft hotels are slated for highway-exit suburban locations. I know it's easier to build out there, but it hardly seems like an appropriate place for the brand.
Last edited by paytonc; Feb 2, 07 at 8:27 pm..
Reason: dyslexia?
I wonder which category aloft hotels would be slotted.
Since they are a branch off from the W Hotels like 4 Points by Sheraton. I'd expect their categories to be below that of W Hotels (mostly in the 4+ range). Depending on where they are slotted, we may get some values for our points.
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Why waste time plotting for direct flights when you can go from A to B through multiple segments.
I was just in South Beach last week and site prep is ongoing; the demolition of the old hotel is nearly complete. The original target was a late 2007 opening, but I'd expect late 2008 given the amount of work yet to be done.
