Historic Hermitage Hotel Reopens After $17M Renovation

NASHVILLE, TN— With an eye toward achieving Mobile Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond status, the ownership of The Hermitage Hotel here has completed a $17 million renovation of the historic property and recently reopened it to welcome a new luxury market. A member of Historic Hotels of America and on the Register of Historic Places, the 1910 property was closed for 10 months as it underwent restoration. The Beaux Arts structure was acquired in 2000 for $14 million by Historic Hotels Nashville, LLC. The group also owns The Jefferson Hotel, Richmond, VA, and Kiawah Island Resorts, Charleston, SC, where The Sanctuary luxury hotel is under development. Guestrooms and public spaces were restored by Washington, D.C.-based interior architecture and design firm ForrestPerkins LLC, and architecture was handled by Gobbel Hays Partners Inc. Historic Hotels Nashville already renovated The Jefferson, elevating it to Five-Star, Five-Diamond status. Prem Devadas, president/managing director for the ownership group and part owner of The Hermitage with William Goodwin, told HOTEL BUSINESS®, “We purchased the property with the express goal to replicate what we had done at The Jefferson….the hotel was in great disrepair when we purchased it, as was The Jefferson.” Originally designed as a premier hotel 93 years ago, when the ownership came to it, it was competing in the upscale market in Nashville, said Devadas, although still in a “premier” location across from the Tennessee State Capitol and Tennessee Performing Arts Center. “We recognized that the hotel— if treated right— could be very, very special, and we had no interest in owning the Hermitage if it could not achieve Jefferson-like status.” According to principal and director of design Deborah Lloyd Forrest, the revamp was thorough. “We completely re-planned the guest floors. We scraped them clean, re-laid out all the rooms so they were 450 square feet with a five-fixture luxury marble bathroom,” she said. “It really had not been laid out to reach the marketplace that the ownership wants: the Five-Star, Five-Diamond luxury guest.” This resulted in 112 guestrooms, three executive and seven junior suites, and a presidential suite. “What we intended to do was to create guestrooms that from an urban standpoint, rival the best, and insure we didn’t have and ‘weak’ rooms,” said Devadas. He added, “You really get a sense of a grand, historic room.” To compete in the marketplace, the rooms also include complimentary high-speed Internet access; DVD players; bedside lighting control; dimmer switches; and heated, defogging mirrors in the bathrooms In the public spaces, the vision was to restore the grandeur already in place, said Devadas. “The mission was real simple: to restore the public areas such that they become known as some of the most beautiful public rooms to be found in any hotel in America. I sincerely believe we have achieved that,” he said. On the exterior, the ownership has enhanced and “painstakingly” restored the building’s terra cotta; done extensive brickwork repair on bricks that were cracked, discolored or chipped; and restored the building’s arched windows. “The historic society people love us, and the city— from the economic development standpoint of downtown Nashville— are very proud and have been involved in the project,” said Devadas. The city appropriated funds to install new sidewalks, which were custom-designed by The Hermitage architects, around the property. “They really set the hotel apart from a lot of other places that you go to,” said Devadas, noting the sidewalk includes a granite inlay at the entrance to the hotel. Keeping the hotel on track for its luxury designations, the ownership also layered in 24-hour concierge and room service, personalized storage trunks for frequent-stay guests, butler service by request. The hotel’s restaurant, Capitol Grille, also got a revamp, with a sepia-tone mural depicting the historic sites of Nashville as a focal