CLARKSVILLE, TENN. — Silver Spring, Md.-based Choice Hotels International has opened a 93-unit MainStay Suites hotel in Clarksville. The property is located at 115 Fairbrook Place. The development, which was built using the MainStay Suites prototype design, is the company’s 100th extended-stay hotel.
Hospitality
SEALY, TEXAS — The grand opening has been held for the new Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, located at 2370 Highway 36 South in Sealy. The hotel, which contains 70 rooms, is a new prototype hotel for the Holiday Inn brand. Amenities include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness center and wireless Internet access. The hotel is owned by Al, Jay and Pat Patel. Holiday Inn is franchised by Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels Group.
CHICAGO — Leopardo Construction has completed a multi-million dollar renovation of the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, located on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Construction for the 14-story hotel included renovations to all 305 guestrooms, as well as common areas. The builder used a phased construction schedule that allowed the hotel to remain open throughout the project. Leopardo also recently completed a modernization of the lobby and wine room of the Fairmont Chicago Hotel, also located in Chicago.
HOUSTON — White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts has held the grand opening for Element Houston Vintage Park, a 123-room hotel located in Houston. The hotel gives guests the ability to customize their rooms with multi-purpose, modular furniture, swiveling flat-screen televisions, large desks with open shelving and custom-designed closets. Rooms also feature fully equipped kitchens. Hotel amenities include a lobby with a multi-story window wall, an outdoor fire pit and barbecue, free wireless Internet access, a fitness center, a pool, a technology center with a library and 456 square feet of meeting space. The project is seeking LEED certification. It is situated within Vintage Park, an 84-acre lifestyle center located at the intersection of Louetta Road and State Highway 249. It is also the first Element hotel to open in Texas. It is owned by Condor Hospitality and managed by Louisiana-based InterMountain Management. The general contractor for the build was Dallas-based Benchmark Development Corp.
ATLANTA — A multi-million dollar expansion to the Emory Conference Center Hotel, which will add 127 guest rooms and 6,000 square feet of meeting space to the existing property, is slated to deliver in May. The five-story addition to the Atlanta hotel has been constructed to Silver LEED specifications. Features in the new building include a six-lane bowling alley, a ballroom and a seminar room. When completed, the Emory hotel will encompass 325 rooms, six suites and 32,000 square feet of meeting space.
DALLAS — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged $13 million in senior financing for the 228-room Doubletree Hotel – Dallas Market Center, located at 2015 Market Center Blvd. in downtown Dallas. The loan includes a 5-year term and a 7 percent fixed interest rate. The lender was a Texas-based bank. The Doubletree Hotel is owned by Market Center Lodging LP and operated by Alliance Hospitality Management.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged senior financing in the amount of $8.5 million for a Doubletree hotel in downtown Albuquerque. The 295-room hotel is owned by an affiliate of American Property Management Corp. HREC procured the 5-year loan at a fixed rate of 7.25 percent through a regional bank.
ATLANTA — FFC Atlanta has sold the 232-unit Clarion Hotel Atlanta Airport to a California-based buyer for an undisclosed price. The Atlanta property includes indoor and outdoor pools, a restaurant and more than 7,000 square feet of meeting space. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels represented the seller.
SAN ANTONIO — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is opening aloft San Antonio Airport Hotel, which is located at 838 NW Loop 410 in San Antonio. The 69,158-square-foot hotel offers 141 loft-inspired guest rooms with nine-foot ceilings. Additionally, the hotel features a lounge area, a bar, a fitness center, an outdoor pool, and a food and beverage area. Partners of the project include Aimbridge Hospitality, Hillwood Investments, Champ Hospitality LP and JF Capital Advisors.
NEW ORLEANS — In what is being called the first major healthcare project in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, Birmingham, Ala.-based Brice Building Co. has broken ground on the $100 million Louisiana Cancer Research Center. The 250,000-square-foot property is located between the health sciences centers at Louisiana State University and Tulane University. More than 300 workers will be employed at the completed center. RMJM Hillier Architecture designed the project, which is slated to deliver in August 2011.