MINNEAPOLIS — The grand opening has been held for The Hilton Garden Inn – Minneapolis Downtown, a 210-room hotel located at 1101 Fourth Avenue South in Minneapolis. The 10-story hotel features a 24-hour business center, a lounge area, five meeting rooms totaling 3,000 square feet, a restaurant, a 24-hour convenience store and a fitness center. Room amenities include wired and wireless Internet access, a high definition flat-screen television and evening room service. The hotel is owned by a joint venture between Global One Commercial and First Hospitality Group. It is operated by First Hospitality under a license agreement with a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels Corp.
POTTSTOWN, PA. — A $1.5 million renovation has been completed on the Comfort Inn & Suites hotel located at 99 Robinson St. in Pottstown. Formerly a Comfort Inn, the hotel underwent the renovation to convert to a Comfort Inn & Suites hotel, completely renovating all guestrooms and public spaces including the lobby, breakfast bar and meeting room. Owned by Pottstown Lodging Partners, LP and operated by Infinity Asset Management (a division of Infinity Hotel Group), the Comfort Inn and Suites hotel features 119 guestrooms and suites. The guestroom upgrades include the addition of king suites and one-bedroom executive suites. Several new amenities that were added include flexible meeting space that can accommodate up to 100 people, a 24-hour business center and a fitness center. The hotel also offers a seasonal outdoor swimming pool.
MCKINNEY, TEXAS —The newly expanded Grand Hotel, located at 114 Louisiana in downtown McKinney, has opened. When it first opened in July 2007, the full-service, luxury hotel contained 14 rooms. Its expansion added four stories and 32 additional rooms to the building. The Grand Hotel now features 46 guestrooms, 4 suites, 3 meeting rooms, a 200-seat Grand Ballroom and Rick’s Chophouse, a restaurant that also features outdoor seating. The hotel was developed by Don Day.
RANCHO MIRAGE, CALIF. — Aqua Caliente Casino Resort Spa has completed the development of The Show, a more than 2,000-seat headliner theater located at Aqua Caliente Casino Resort Spa Rancho Mirage. The $64 million, 91,000-square-foot theater features multi-level seating, VIP box suites and lounges, multiple bars and state-of-the-art sound and lighting. Back of the house features include dressing rooms, green rooms and house management offices. Designed by San Diego-based Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker, the space can accommodate musical acts, boxing, ultimate fighting championship events, fashion shows and banquet dining. Additionally, the project included the construction of a 10,000-square-foot warehouse to support hotel and casino operations, which is linked to the hotel via a 500-foot underground tunnel. The Penta Building Group served as general contractor for the project. The property is located at 32-350 Bob Hope Dr.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Hotels has arranged the sale of the landmark Holiday Inn on the Lane at Ohio State University. The 11-story, 243-room hotel, which is located on Lane Avenue and borders the Ohio State campus, was acquired for $20 million by the university. The school plans to convert the building to student housing. Built in 1973, the hotel has been owned by the seller, Harper Hotels, since it opened. Eric Belfrage of CBRE’s Columbus office and Tom Ives of the company’s Atlanta office represented Harper Hotels in the disposition.
NEW YORK CITY —Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and Hersha Hospitality Management are set to begin construction on a 174-room Hyatt Place hotel in Brooklyn, New York City. Located in downtown Brooklyn on Nevins Street, the hotel will be just an 8-minute train ride into Manhattan and ideally located near the MetroTech Center, Williamsburg Savings Bank, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and South Street Seaport. Construction is slated for completion in winter 2011. In addition to the Nevins Street location, Hyatt Place has three other hotels under construction in New York on Manhattan and Long Island.
ROANOKE, VA. — The Sheraton Roanoke Hotel & Conference Center has reopened after an $18 million renovation. Additions to the 320-unit hotel include the Pi Kitchen – a global fusion eatery – and a lobby lounge concept called Link@Sheraton. The hotel also features 17,000 square feet of banquet and conference space, indoor and outdoor pools and a fitness room.
AURORA, ILL. — Hotel owner Garlapati Hospitality LLC has opened a $7 million Candlewood Suites at 2625 West Sullivan Rd. in Aurora. The three-floor, 83-room extended-stay hotel is the ninth Candlewood-branded offering to open in the Chicago-area. Candlewood Suites is part of InterContinental Hotels Group’s line of hospitality brands. Amenities include at 24-hour fitness center, a business center and the Gazebo Grill.
BEAUMONT, TEXAS — Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts has held the grand re-opening for the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites – Beaumont Plaza, located at 3950 I-10 South in Beaumont. The hotel was damaged last year by Hurricane Ike, but remained open during that time as an emergency shelter for displaced workers of the area’s major corporations. The hotel subsequently under went a $7.5 million renovation. Improvements to the 8-story hotel included exterior construction such as signage, landscaping and building repair; fresh paint and vinyl in interior common areas, hallways and the hotel’s 22,000 square feet of convention space; storm damage repairs to the hotel’s 253 rooms and suites; and the construction of a new lobby bar in the atrium.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Marriott’s 218-room Courtyard Washington D.C./U.S. Capitol will open its doors on April 15 in the city’s NoMa district, making it the first hotel in the mixed-use Washington neighborhood. The eight-story property is located at 1325 Second St. N.E. Seven retailers will ultimately move into space in the hotel; Au Bon Pain recently opened on the ground floor. Property features include a green roof, a restaurant and market, 2,800 square feet of meeting space, an indoor swimming pool and a fitness center.