ORLANDO— For more than a year, Richard Kessler, president and CEO of Grand Theme Hotels, has been eagerly moving ahead on plans for his latest themed project, the transformation of an 1880s mansion in Savannah’s historic district into a 95-room, five-star hotel that melds Old-World elegance with modern-day amenities. Then, about five months ago, Kessler decided to put the project “on the shelf,” and get a better read on the market over the summer, and “to see what the future looked like before launching into spending a lot of money on plans and tying up money unnecessarily.” By the end of July, Kessler had decided to go forward, taking architectural proposals from five contenders, one of which “we plan to turn loose” within a 30-day period of making the selection to do a detailed and final plan for the former mansion. With the project moving ahead, Kessler said he would also be going out for financing. “We’ve already had [local and institutional lenders]show interest in the project, so we’re very encouraged. I think we’ll get it financed before the year is out,” Kessler said. While he would not disclose the amount he was seeking to finance, he did expect to place 25% to 35% equity. Kessler estimated it would take six months to complete the working drawings. “By that time we plan to have wrapped up our financing and anticipate starting construction by early summer,” he said. Kessler also has put conversion plans on hold for one of his non-GTH hotels, the Universal Inn in Orlando “until things settle down up on North I[international]Drive. Probably for another couple of months.” The 1,000-room Loews Royal Pacific Resort and the 400-room Crowne Plaza Orlando-Universal opened near there in early summer proximate to Universal. “I want to see what effect that’s going to have on the market. There’s also brand new products being built right behind us, a Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.” said the CEO. Kessler’s also waiting on “two good things to happen,” i.e., the opening of the Millennium Mall and the opening of the convention center next May. “Those will be very positive things to happen for that area,” said Kessler. He hoped to have the project going again within six months. Right now, his plans to bring a 162-room La Quinta to the site remain in place. “We’ll totally gut the [Universal Inn], which is a concrete structure, and virtually rebuild it as a new building,” he said. In the wake of 9/11 and a still-sluggish economy, Kessler said he’s “cautiously optimistic” regarding the outlook for owners and developers like himself. “The new little curve ball here is the stock market. It depends on how quickly it comes back. If it stays down at the 7,000 range, I’m sure there’ll be some form of effect from that. If it will quickly rebound back into the 9,000 to 10,000 range in the next three months (out to October at presstime), I don’t think it will have a significant effect. But if we’re still looking at a 7,000 range at the end of the year, it will have an effect on corporate business in particular.” At presstime, Kessler’s five Grand Theme Hotels showed occupancies “absolutely flat” at 67% against last year’s figures, “and our rate is up 4%.” He noted ADR was running about $105 across the brands. “That ADR is significantly up from last year,” said Kessler, noting it stood at $89 in the 2001 time period. “So, we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made this year.” And Kessler’s “extremely pleased” with the performance of his most recently opened property, The Westin Grand Bohemian. “Downtown Orlando is a very tough market,” he said, but quickly noted, “we have absolutely generated market downtown and the property is performing over its projection; we’re very, very pleased. I think it’s strictly due to the product, which is so outstanding— that’s what the customers tell us anyway.” Those “customers” include leading politicians, celebrities and sports figures. “We have 95% of all the NBA teams coming in,” sai
