CITY BEAT
St. Paul, Minn.
Bridge to the Future
Starwood Hotels & Resorts has released plans for The Westin Saint Paul Hotel & Residences, a tower with 250 guest rooms, 82 residences and 12,000 square feet of meeting space, to open in 2008 in a mixed-use complex called The Bridges of Saint Paul, pending approval by city officials. In March, a Radisson hotel was reflagged as the Crowne Plaza St. PaulRiverfront. The Radisson City Center also will be rebranded following a $9.5 million renovation.
Austin, Texas
Adding New Hotels
Two hotels will open in August, next to the Austin Convention Center: the 270-room Courtyard Austin Downtown, with 6,600 square feet of meeting space, and the 179-suite Residence Inn. Thirteen miles from AustinBergstrom International Airport, on the Colorado River, the 492-room Hyatt Lost Pines Resort & Spa will open in June. The hotel will feature 60,000 square feet of meeting space, an 18-hole golf course and a spa.
CA, Los Angeles
This month the 297-room Sofitel Los Angeles unveils newly designed
guest rooms by Cheryl Rowley and a restaurant from chef Kerry
Simon, fruits of a $35 million renovation. Coming soon: Le Spa by
Sofitel and more than 9,000 square feet of revamped meeting
space.
CA, Napa
The 158-room Meritage Resort at Napa opens this month. This
vineyard hotel has 14,000 square feet of meeting space, including a
10,500-square-foot ballroom. A spa inside the estate’s wine cave
will open in July.
GA, Atlanta
Twelve Hotel and Residences Atlantic Station, the first of
a new brand owned by the Novare Group, opened in February. The
property has 101 hotel suites and 380 condominiums, plus a ballroom
of 6,200 square feet. Two other Twelve hotels are in development in
Atlanta.
IN, Indianapolis
A $13 million renovation is wrapping up at the University Place
Conference Center and Hotel on the campus of Indiana
UniversityPerdue University Indianapolis. All of the hotel’s 278
rooms and suites are now open, as are the hotel’s three
restaurants, two of which are new.
Circular Logic. In
January, the 384-room Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six Resort and Spa
in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., reopened The Pier Top, a circular event
venue on the hotel’s 17th floor, following a multimillion-dollar
renovation and redesign. The hotel has developed a catering menu
exclusively for events in the 3,000-square-foot space, which has a
rotating floor and an express glass elevator. (954) 525-6666; pier66.hyatt.com
MA, Boston
This month, the Four Seasons Hotel Boston completes a $45 million
renovation that includes all guest rooms and hotel corridors. The
273-room property has more than 14,000 square feet of meeting
space, including a 3,710-square-foot ballroom.
MD, Baltimore
The Harbor Court Hotel will be rebranded as the InterContinental
Hotel Court Baltimore this month, after a multimillion-dollar
renovation that includes new or upgraded flat-screen TVs, in-room
safes and checkout systems. The 195-room property has 8,000 square
feet of meeting space.
OK, Midwest City
The 151-room hotel Sheraton Midwest City opened in
February, attached to the two-year-old Reed Center. The latter is a
conference facility with nearly 20,000 square feet of indoor
meeting space, including a 6,000-square-foot exhibit hall and a
9,000-square-foot ballroom.
VA, Fairfax
The 310-room Fairfax Marriott at Fair Oaks opened in January with
more than 14,600 square feet of meeting space, including 10 meeting
rooms and an 8,919-square-foot ballroom. The hotel also has a
six-story, 5,000-square-foot garden atrium that can be used for
events.