Marriott Tops Off On Its First Full-Service Hotel In Seattle

SEATTLE— Filling a “hole” in its distribution, Marriott International has just topped off on its first full-service hotel in downtown Seattle. Part of the city’s up-and-coming waterfront district, the $80 million Seattle Marriott Waterfront Hotel, owned by CNL Hospitality and managed by Marriott, is slated to open in May 2003. Given the urban appeal of this West Coast local, it bears wondering— why did Marriott wait so long to debut in the market? Well, it appears the delay was not entirely by choice. “There are very high barriers to entry in the market, which is why it took so long,” said Jim Erlacher, vp/North American development for Marriott, who was quick to note that Marriott does have a Renaissance property in the market, which it acquired with the purchase of the brand in 1997. “Marriott’s known for its good distribution and I can’t think of another market where we have a major void. Seattle, strategically, left a hole in our distribution,” Erlacher stated. However, he explained that building a new project in Seattle has historically been difficult “from an entitlement standpoint.” “We could have gone in with a less desirable location earlier, but we wanted to hold out,” he said. And the waiting paid off, because now the new 358-room Marriott will be the second hotel to move into the enviable waterfront area, which is being developed by the Port of Seattle. The hotel sits directly across from the new 78,000-square-foot Bell Harbor International Conference Center and the adjoining World Trade Center Seattle. After nearly six years of negotiations with the Port of Seattle, Marriott finally topped off on its new project on Aug. 15. The eight-story hotel will bring an additional 11,000 square feet of meeting space to the city, along with wireless Internet access, and guestrooms that each overlook Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. The new project also represents a growing partnership between Marriott and CNL. Within the past 12 months, Marriott has closed nearly $500 million worth of transactions with CNL, including the recent sale of two Marriotts— located in San Francisco and the Bridgewater, NJ— to CNL for $143 million, said Tim Grisius, vp/project finance for Marriott. In fact, in terms of the “amount of volume we’ve done within the past couple years,” CNL takes the cake, Grisius added. Host Marriott, however, still remains Marriott’s largest owner of hotels. In addition to Seattle, Marriott also has another project underway in Washington state, located in Redmond, near the Microsoft headquarters.