NATIONAL REPORT—New hotels are in development or under construction in major cities and top MSAs across the country. Here’s a look at a few of them:
SpringHill/TownePlace Suites in New Orleans
Further enhancing the continued redevelopment of New Orleans’ Canal Street stretching from downtown to Mid-City, Newcrestimage is renovating the former ODECO Building, named for its original tenant, the Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company, into a dual-branded SpringHill and TownePlace Suites with a rooftop bar, Vue.
Scheduled to open early 2018, this marks the first-ever dual-branded SpringHill and TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Louisiana, according to the company.
Through its Save Art initiative, the hotel will partner with ReNEW McDonogh City Park Academy (McDonogh 28) and fundraise to donate art supplies and other necessary items.
Additionally, the property completed the permit process around the same time that a new CZO was enacted, which led the design team to incorporate a unique storm water management plan into the design. There are three retention tanks located under the first floor, which collect and filter storm water from the roof drains into the city’s infrastructure.
The two brands will be separated by floors, with one shared lobby and complimentary breakfast area.
Nobu Hotel in Atlanta
Simon, a global leader in shopping, dining and entertainment destinations, plans to create a mixed-use development at Atlanta’s Phipps Plaza, headlined by the arrival of a new Nobu Hotel and Nobu Atlanta Restaurant. Additional elements of this new development call for a unique, curated dining experience, a 90,000-sq.-ft. Life Time Athletic healthy living and entertainment destination, and a 12-story Class A office building, complete with a three-story lower level parking garage.
Construction is slated to commence in 2018 with a phased opening beginning in spring 2020. These new elements will be completely integrated into the existing footprint of Phipps Plaza. Simon has transformed Phipps Plaza in recent years by adding hospitality and residential components, among others. The AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead at Phipps Plaza has 166 guestrooms and suites.
The new Nobu property will blend its hotel and restaurant as one—with 150 rooms, a rooftop pool, corporate conference space and spa facilities. Nobu Atlanta Restaurant will operate in a 10,000-sq.-ft. space.
Sophy in Chicago
Sophy, a new 98-room boutique hotel in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, is under construction and scheduled to open in summer 2018. Developed by SMART Hotels and managed by Olympia Hotel Management, Sophy is located at 53rd St. and Dorchester Ave. on Chicago’s South Side, close to the site of the future Barack Obama Presidential Library, the University of Chicago campus and the Museum of Science and Industry.
Sophy will offer a bar, a restaurant with al fresco dining and a fitness center. Designed achieve LEED Silver certification, Sophy will be a preferred hotel of the University of Chicago.
Chicago-based GREC Architects is the project architect, with interior design from Stonehill Taylor of New York. The hotel is being built by William A Randolph, Inc. of Gurnee, Illinois.