Sage Hospitality To Bring First Renaissance Hotel To Rhode Island Through Masonic Temple

PROVIDENCE, RI— The largest restoration project in Rhode Island history will also yield the state’s first Renaissance Hotel by 2006 at its capital here, thanks to a multi-pronged public/private partnership effort to resurrect and restore the city’s massive historic Masonic Temple, which was left abandoned in 1929. Denver-based Sage Hospitality Resources is set to breathe new life into the 75-year-old structure via a $77 million restoration— acquisition cost was $1— that will produce the 274-room hotel, to be known as the Renaissance Providence Masonic Temple Hotel. The property, which Sage also will operate, will feature 10,000 square feet of ballroom/meeting space, a bar and restaurant, and is expected to become a focal point of the community. Sage and Historic Hospitality Investments, a wholly owned company of paper and tissue manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corp., are the adaptive reuse project’s equity investors. Sage is the managing member and has 35% of the partnership. Fleet National Bank is providing the construction loan. Ken Geist, executive vp/development for Sage, said the company originally found the project some six years ago when it went looking for development opportunities in the state. At the time, however, the project had been awarded to a New York developer, but investors pulled out of the deal, according to a local newspaper report. Until Sage stepped in, the fate of the temple has been uncertain since it was abandoned by the Scottish Rite Freemasons in 1929; construction was never completed. In 1945, the state bought the building and two neighboring structures. One, a 1928 landmark building adjoining the temple, was restored as the Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium and is now home to the VMA Arts and Cultural Center and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. A middle building that connected the larger structures remained closed. During past decades, various state administrations studied what could be done with the Temple, but a number of proposals failed. It was former Gov. Lincoln Almond’s administration that in September 2002 picked Sage to redevelop the site following a national RFQ issued by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. “We convinced the state we were capable of doing this,” said Geist. After four months of completing documentation with the state, Sage inked the development agreement in January 2003. That year was filled with getting approvals, capitalization and scores of public hearings. It was only last month Sage got its final approvals on the project. A management/development firm with a variety of product in its near 100-property portfolio, Sage has done six historic adaptive reuses, notably the conversion of the Fulton Building in Pittsburgh, PA, into a Renaissance Hotel. “We believe that Renaissance is a good fit for this hotel and the market for a variety of reasons,” Walter Isenberg, president/CEO of Sage Hospitality Resources, told HOTEL BUSINESS®. “First of all we believe the Renaissance brand and its target customer are looking for a unique experience, a ‘high-style’ experience. The historic projects that we’re looking at in urban centers— Pittsburgh being a perfect example— are really a bull’s eye for Renaissance. We have had tremendous success in Pittsburgh with the brand, huge market premium…it also gives us a little more flexibility in terms of design and creativity— outside of the more consistent characteristics of some of the other brands.” Jurgen Giesbert, svp/Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites North America, said entering the state with the brand via adaptive reuse couldn’t be better. “You know what’s the definition of luck? When preparedness and opportunity meet. Sometimes you have something that comes along that happens to be in a place you really want to be— and this is one of them,” he said. “I can’t think of a project that more accurately captures the essence of who we want to be than this hotel.” While Rhode Island had been previously considered for the