DoubleTree’s New Logo

Last night while I was fast forwarding through the commercials on my DVR, a different logo for the DoubleTree Hotels flashed on the screen for a quick second - I rewound to the beginning of the commercial and it seems as though DoubleTree Hotels has a new logo.

New DoubleTree Logo

 

Current DoubleTree Logo

It seems to be the thing that’s occurring throughout all of the major hotel brands in the past year or two is a refresh, or a modernizing of the logo. Everyone from Four Points, to MicroTel, to Days Inn, and Super 8 have been giving their brand logo’s a zippy, modern edge.

The logo change was made in their new TV commercials that can be viewed by visiting www.doubletreepromo.com or clicking here where DoubleTree seems to finally be taking on its own brand identity, something Starwood has been doing with their brands for years.

The commercial doesn’t really say much, it almost seems to be setting up a major ad or branding campaign - showing images of DoubleTree hotels with some funky music in the end - ending with the new logo, and what I would assume is their new slogan “Calm - Cool - Relaxed”

Sounds a little like Westin huh?

The interesting thing about this ad campaign and DoubleTree’s logo change is its one of the first visible changes that have been made to any of the Hilton brands since Blackstone purchased it last year. Blackstone purchased Hilton with the intent (so they say) of continuing to grow the brands and expand them, and while they have started Hilton’s worldwide growth by announcing DoubleTree by Hilton, and Embassy Suites by Hilton in the East, not much has been done domestically - where most of their hotels are located.

Blackstone needs to do something, and they need to do something soon, starting with creating a competitor to W Hotels and Edition Hotels - every major hotel brand has a boutique brand except Hilton. 

Secondly, Blackstone really needs to begin giving each of the Hilton brand names their own identity, something that will set them apart from other Hilton brands as well as their competitors and most importantly something that will make a customer want to stay at a hotel with a specific brand vs whichever is the cheapest that night.

It’s not as though Hilton will have a problem - they are larger than Starwood, yet I think they are quickly becoming like Marriott - a company whose brands are becoming so standardized you cant tell what hotel you’re in without looking for a sign somewhere. If they don’t start making changes and improvements, then the brand will slowly but surely begin its ascent into obscurity.

Blackstone has a big job on its hands - but as long as they put their money where their mouth is, I’m sure they’ll grow and improve Hilton into something great - but they sure have a lot of catching up to do.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

 

aloft in Harlem Confirmed, Brooklyn Revealed, Plus NJ’s First Element

Well I have a number of news bits today on aloft developments in New York City, as well as a small tidbit of information on an Element - Ewing to be located in Ewing, NJ - it would be New Jersey’s first Element location.

First is the news that the long rumored aloft/W Hotel in Harlem is definitely going to be an aloft! For almost a year now there have been rumors that it will be a W Hotel, even though some of the original renderings had the aloft logo as part of the rendering (lower right corner), but because most alofts have a signature “swish” and do not have a residential component (as this development is supposed to have) there was a big question mark. According to Starwoods New Hotel page, it is scheduled to open in June 2010.

aloft Harlem Rendering

Second news is the aloft/Sheraton combination development being built in Brooklyn. Once again it was another development which has not been completely validated, but I’ve been able to put the pieces together and it is definitely going to be a Sheraton with an adjoining aloft next door. To some people this development may not come as a surprise - as renderings have been available, yet at the same time it was never always clear as to what building is what and where exactly the rendering will be built.

The development is being designed by Gene Kaufman, the architect who seems to be designing most of NYC’s major non-luxury hotel developments. In fact the McSam Hotel Group uses him almost exclusively for their designs (and they are building or planning around 40 hotels in NYC as we speak). All of Gene Kaufman’s exterior designs are very big on bold colors as well as not fitting into the normal look and feel that you would expect from a hotel development. Some of his designs look like a building build with legos.

The Sheraton/aloft combination development is being built by the The Lam Group, and not McSam (easy to confuse because a lot of people confuse Gene Kaufman as an exclusive architect of McSam). On Starwood’s new hotel page, it lists the Sheraton as opening August 2009 and the aloft opening June 2009.

 

Sheraton/Aloft development. Sheraton is on the left, aloft is on the right

aloft rendering from Starwood’s New Hotel page. Notice the roof now has a big “a” instead of what looks like could have been a “W”

Ground level rendering of aloft from aloft’s website

Construction of Sheraton as of Feb 2008. Notice that construction on the Aloft building doesn’t seem to have started yet. (Photo from Brownstoner)

Lastly is news that New Jersey’s first Element hotel will be built in Ewing Township, NJ by Hersha Hospitality. The address that is given is 370 Scotch Road, Ewing, NJ which is right next to the Courtyard by Marriott that Hersha also operates. It’s a great location for an element as it is right next to the Mercer County Airport - which is becoming very popular for private and business jets, as well as near a major Merrill Lynch complex and a brand new commercial development called Princeton South. Princeton South by the way will also be receiving a 140 room hotel development in the next few years, but it is unclear what brand that hotel will end up being.

The Element- Ewing is listed on Starwood’s site as opening in November, 2009, but its not categorized by a State - you have to look at the top of the list in order to find it.

It seems the a lot of the confusion with Aloft/W Hotels over the past year or two has its roots in aloft’s being an offshoot of the W Hotel brand. A lot of developers, and architects referred to the project as a W hotel, when in fact all along it was only an aloft.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

The Backstory of Bruce Eichner’s Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino

Since I’ve had a lot of people ask me for status updates on the Cosmopolitan, here are some article jumps if you just want to get to a certain point:

• Current State of Project
• W Hotels/Related Companies Status
• Bruce Eichner (Developer) Background

I’ve been a subscriber to the Wall Street Journal online since it first became a paying website - I remember trying to convince my mother that putting $59 (thats how much it was when it first came out) on her credit card every year was a good investment. Once I finally had my own credit card when I was 18, I remember it was always the largest purchase I made each year for a few years.

One of the most valuable pieces of the WSJ to me is their “Page One” where besides any major business or financial news, it always includes one or two articles which take extensive reporting, and even if those articles have noting to do with what I’m interested in, they are always a very informative read.

On Friday, the WSJ published an article about Bruce Eichner, the developer of the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las Vegas where they described the issues he is currently having with the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, as well as some of his last problems when he was involved in huge building projects (one was profiled in a book: How 1,000 Men and Women Worked Around the Clock for Five Years and Lost $200 Million Building a Sky Scraper“. It’s a pretty interesting article which they describe how he seemed to be getting himself more and more into debt and taking on more and more loans from different banks to complete the project.

It brings up how he initially found the site for the Cosmopolitan (right in between Caesars & MGM’s CityCenter Project) and only put in about $10 million of his own money - it doesn’t really state in the article, but it does insinuate that that is all the money that he put into the project. Lets do the math, $10 million of your own money, and borrowed the other billion for what will be an eventual 3 or 4 billion dollar project? Wow. No wonder this mortgage financing mess occurred!

In all seriousness though, its clear that Bruce & his wife (who designed the interiors of the hotel/casino) do have a personal attachment to the project that has sold $280 million worth of deposits ($1.4 billion worth of final sales) and the project is clearly going to be a success - once its finished - but will probably not be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor it as they wish they could.

Here is what caused Eichner’s problems:

Prices for material and labor shot up, throwing all previous cost estimates out the window, in fact Deutsche Bank (the biggest lender) even asked for a construction contract asking for a maximum price on the project.

Secondly, Eichner may be wealthy, but his company is not a publicly traded company, limiting their ability to get capital. As far as I know he does not even have very many assets. It’s not like MGM Mirage who has billions of dollars worth of assets which they can borrow against, or even sell if worse comes to worse in a financial bind. Eichner having very little assets puts the banks in a perilous situation because if the project does end up defaulting it ends up being a complete loss.

Lastly, most of the major bank loans for this project was based on certain groups providing equity in the project, yet they didn’t seem to do the in depth underwriting, or due diligence on the project which may have caused them to think harder about their decision. George Soros originally provided some equity, and Deutsche Bank originally provided a loan based on his participation - figuring if he was in, then it was a good deal. Then Hyatt became involved to run the hotel, and due to Hyatt’s participation (they signed on as the hotel operator, and also contributed $50 million to the project), Deutsche Bank loaned more money. Money was loaned based on money loaned, and too many eggs were put into one basket.

Currently the project is under foreclosure by Deutsche Bank - who currently is owed almost 1 billion dollars, and the project is only 1/3 completed, yet still being built. Deutsche has too much invested in the project and there is actual progress occurring on the site for them to just shut it down and call it a loss. The project is still due to be opened by the end of 2009, and it sounds as though all of the sales deposits are safe, but one thing that isn’t safe is Eichner’s affiliation with the project. It seems as though the lenders are pushing him out of the project.

The article doesn’t say much about the status of any takeover by W Hotels or the Related Companies - except that the Related Companies have been talking to Deutsche Bank about buying the project out of foreclosure, so it’s anyones guess as to where that stands.

I think that the Cosmopolitan project will still be finished without any major changes or scale backs, although it’s a good possibility that Hyatt will no longer be affiliated with the project, and the Eichners will also be no longer be involved. For all those who have deposits put down on a unit at the Cosmopolitan - don’t worry, I really don’t see any issues with losing a deposit since the project is partially built. As for W Hotels becoming involved with the project - I still see it as a definite possibility since its a very high profile location and W has been wanting to come back into Las Vegas in a big way.

I’ll keep you posted.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

MGM Mirage Considering A Split of Hotel & Casino Operations

Correction: I originally claimed Caesars was purchased by MGM Mirage, instead it was purchased by Harrahs.

I’ve always admired MGM Mirage- they can easily be considered one of the largest hotel companies in the world based on number of rooms and employees - even though they have the majority of their properties in Nevada, but I’ve never focused on them because their corporate mantra was always based around the casino - not the hotel but I think that’s about to change.

From their 2007 10-K Financial Statement, MGM Mirage has over 84,000 hotel rooms currently in operation - making them the 10th largest hotel company in the world (bigger than Hyatt). That 84,000 number doesn’t even take into consideration the massive projects that MGM is currently involved in developing - CityCenter in LasVegas, their joint venture with Kerzner International, the M Resortin South Las Vegas, as well as the MGM Grand Foxwoods, MGM Grand Atlantic City, and the developments in the Middle East.

Most people who read this will say - sure.. They may operate alot of hotel rooms, but MGM Mirage is still mainly a casino operation, which, yes, from the outset - that is what attracts most people to their properties, and where they received over $3 billion in revenue from, vs a little over $5 billion from non-casino operations (rooms, food and beverage, other income - rental income for stores, merchandise, etc). To break it down even further, MGM Mirage received a little over $2 billion in revenue from rooms alone.

That to me is a VERY viable hotel business that alot of people consider a cost of doing for a casino.

Earlier this week, MGM Mirage announced earnings which disappointed the stock market - most of the decline was due to the economy slowing down and gambling revenues declining as people second guess their vacations to casinos, at the same time it was brought up that perhaps it may be a good idea going forward to break up MGM Mirageinto two separate companies - a casino operation and a hotel operation.

No specifics were laid out - in fact MGM Mirage already has a subsidiary called MGM Mirage Hospitality which they just started in 2007, MGM Hospitality is being operated to build resorts throughout the world utilizing the name and experience of MGM Mirage, so any ideas or things that I’m talking about are purely speculative, yet its something that seems highly probable and in the overall best interests of the company.

The reason for most companies splitting themselves up is usually due to unlocking hidden value, throughout high school I always read about this but never quite understood it. How could a company be less valuable as one vs two separate companies? Wouldn’t a company that has everything under one roof - multiple divisions doing multiple lines of business be more valuable than two or three companies that do the same thing? Well it does depend on the company and situation, but in this case these are two businesses (casino & hotel/entertainment/food and beverage) which are probably more valuable as separate companies.

But how would a split MGM Miragelook? That’s hard to say, since the hotels and casinos share the same building and services. I think one possibility would be the hotel company owning the real estate and running the hotel and food and beverage operations, with the casino company managing and owning the casino operation.

The more I think about MGM Mirage splitting the better the idea sounds - remember ITT-Sheraton prior to Starwood Hotels purchasing it? ITT-Sheraton was made up of Caesars World (the precursor to Caesars Casino in Atlantic City & Las Vegas, and now is owned by Harrahs), and at one time the Sheraton brand and the Caesars Casino operations were the same company (in fact, look at gold leaf around the Sheraton logo, it’s the same gold leaf design around the Caesars logo - even to this day.) After purchasing ITT-Sheraton, Starwood ended up selling the casino portion of the business - but kept the hotel portion (Sheraton) rather than keeping Caesars and expanding the casino business.

We’ll see what happens and how (and if) this idea of splitting MGM Mirageinto two separate businesses works out, but overall, I think its a great idea. It brings the real value of a great company front and center - the hotel/restaurant/entertainment divisions, while still enabling the casino division to grow and operate on its own.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

1 Hotels & 1 Hotel Scottsdale Still Moving Along

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen any action or any news on any of the Starwood Capital Group hotel brands. It seems as though they have been focusing more on the Louvre Hotel Group in Europe rather than their hotel brands in America - and rightly so, the financial climate is very different in Europe compared to America - especially when building a large project such as a luxury hotel.

At the same time, 1 Hotel has had so many projects on the burner since they first announced the brand in 2006 and seemingly just as many setbacks in that time. The 1 Hotel Seattle was originally due to open by 2009 - yet it doesn’t even look as though they will begin construction until then.

But there is news! After reading an article from the East Valley Tribune it looks like the Scottsdale project is back on track!

The 1 Hotel Scottsdale is due to be built adjacent to the Scottsdale Waterfront - a project that Starwood Capital also has an ownership interest in that has been on the drawing boards since 2003, and only now is finally close to completion.

The 4 Acre Site where 1 Hotel Scottsdale is to be built

Lower left is the 1 Hotel Scottsdale site, upper right is the Scottsdale Waterfront site.

The Scottsdale Waterfrontis a fairly large mixed-use development - a combination of both high end commercial boutiques and two luxury condo high rises - definitely a very high end development, from what I’ve been able to gather, the commercial aspect of the development - is very close to being finished, whereas the residential aspect - the two highrise condos - is still very much under construction.

Now, Starwood Capital is saying that the 1 Hotel Scottsdale will have a groundbreaking in the beginning of 2009, with an opening probably in 2010 or 2011, and is due to contain 200 hotel rooms, two signature restaurants, a spa, tea garden, fitness center & rooftop garden. Of course, the 1 Hotel Scottsdale will also have the signature 1 Hotel elements - such as the restaurant being operated by Steve Hansen, as well as LEED Certification throughout the project.

According to the newspaper article the delay was caused by:

The nationwide financial crunch caused the two-year delay in the original plans, he said.

“Now the banks are back lending again,” [Bret] Sassenberg [Starwood's Director of Development] said.

Those are somewhat interesting comments because two years ago, the financial crunch was pretty much nothing but a blip on some forward thinking people’s radar, and yes it is showing some signs of recovery - but it still is very difficult to find financing. So I’m not quite sure that was the real reason for the delay and Starwood Capitalhas a very good reputation making smart financing deals and does have alot of access to capital. It’s very possible that they were waiting for the Scottsdale Waterfront development to finish or almost be finished before they began construction on the 1 Hotel.

I have not been able to find any renderings of the building yet, besides the fact that Nelsen Partners seems to be in charge of the master plan of the development, as soon as I find something - I’ll be sure to update here.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

I’m Still Here!

I just had to post this quick message - I’m still here!! I’ve been pretty silent over the past few weeks, I’ve been so wrapped up in every day living that I really haven’t had too much of a chance to sit down and write - but trust me I think about it every day!

As of now I have a bunch of articles on the burner - and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get one out every day or two starting tomorrow..

Here are some of the topics that I’m working on right now (in no order):

• 1 Hotel Scottsdale
• Baccarat Wailea
• Starwood’s Element/Aloft Updates
• Aloft Charleston/National Harbor
• Sheraton Revitalization
• Why Starwood Hotels Will Always Succeed
• Why Spas, Bars and other Services are becoming so important to hotels
• Philadelphia Hotel Development Information
• Stephen Starr

So my apologies for those who have been missing my postings - I’ve been missing it too! One of the most important aspects to having a successful blog is frequent writings. Not necessarily every day, not necessarily on a set schedule - but often enough so that you always quench the appetite.

Stay tuned!

-Andrew

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

Quick Tour of National Harbor

Two weeks ago I took a weekend road trip from New Jersey to South Carolina, my GPS took us right past National Harbor - and I just had to stop! Not too often that I get to Washington DC, and since I’ve been following the development so closely - I had to see it for myself.

I have to admit - I am very impressed!

We parked in the parking garage (free for the first 2 hours!) and went into the Gaylord National - I’ve been in some big hotels before - but none that actually felt as big as this one. After you walk into the lobby, which is the size of a Las Vegas hotel lobby, you can go right into the 18 story atrium - the centerpiece of the Gaylord National property.

The feeling of being in a big hotel property usually is achieved by seeing the size of the lobby, or the number of buttons on the elevator but what makes the Gaylord National feel so big is the wall of hotel rooms which surround you when you walk into the atrium. Walking into this atrium almost makes you feel like you are in the biosphere 2 - if it wasn’t for the wall of glass on one end, and the glass ceiling 18 stories up, it feels like a small self-contained city. The floor of the atrium a few small buildings, making the old-fashioned town-feel even more real, as well as some beautifully manicured gardens and grounds (and this is still inside!)

View of the hotel/atrium.

 

Outside of Gaylord National

 

Courtyard Area inside the Atrium

We visited on April 11th - two weeks prior to their official grand opening, yet about a month after their soft opening, so some components were still not finished - one of the entrances onto the outside grounds was still being constructed, and then the grounds outside were still off-limits due to landscaping. But we still managed to walk outside and through the rest of the development and I have to admit - I was very surprised by the amount of construction still occurring. It seems to me that except for the Hampton Inn & Suites and the Gaylord National itself, all the remaining storefronts, hotels and businesses are still under construction. The only other place that looked like it was to be ready for business in less than a month was the Westin - but even that I was unsure about. I have to add - there clearly is a lot of work still to be completed as you can tell by the photo below, but the aloft National Harbor is clearly coming to life. As I drove onto the property you can see the signature aloft swish facing the main road. I’ll have more about that and the aloft Charleston in another post.

 

The main street into National Harbor

Since the centerpiece of the National Harbor project is the Statue “The Awakening” I had to visit that. After getting to the waterfront, it’s clear how National Harbor is not only a conference/business destination, but also as the ability to be a local destination. The setup of the docks, the restaurants and storefronts which will be level with the docks (technically 1 story below the main access road and Gaylord National).

The Pier on the Waterfront

 

The Awakening

 

The Awakening

The Waterfront Area.

National Harbor is a place that I would love to live - close access to two major cities (Washington DC and Alexandria, VA) yet all the comforts of home right outside of your doorstep as well. Nightly entertainment on the docks and waterfront area, as well as the security of knowing that it will never be a deserted area - even at 2AM in the morning. Hotel guests, and conventioneers will also not have to worry about going too far to eat or to talk or meet when they visit the property. If there is one annoyance about attending a convention just outside of the center of a major city, its the tease of being so close to the action, events, places to go, yet not close enough where you can walk right outside of the convention hotel and find almost everything you’d need.

National Harbor does not have that issue.

Something else which I found interesting is how only about half of the entire National Harbor property is currently being developed - the entire portion of cleared areas to the East of the property is all slated for future development - having nothing to do with the current economic situation, but just Phase 2. In Phase 2 you will see more of what you currently have - as well as much more commercial office space and residential living space, but for now, National Harbor is still a unique and very well designed mixed-use development.

Props go out to the Peterson Companies for taking a huge gamble on this development - and making it a clear success.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

Element: The Greening of Starwood Hotels

Just in time for Earth Day, Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced that all of their Element locations will be LEED Certified. Now I’ve been following the Element development process since it was known as Project ESW and while I was aware that Element was a “green” hotel - I cant recall ever seeing that it was going to be LEED Certified. This is great news! For those unaware of what LEED Certification is - it’s a certification by the Federal Government that states that the building and its services helps the environment and saves energy - there are different levels of LEED Certification and it’s all achieved via the type of and sourcing of building materials, methods in maintaining the property, ways of actually building the property and the types of fixtures used in the property.

Ok - back to the point of this post.

Starwood has even gone so far as to create a website (http://www.greenelementhotels.com) which shows how the brand is being configured and designed for being Green. The site only has a few pages - but describes the thought processes that went into creating Element, has two videos and even a floorplan of a typical room - showing how the green elements are integrated into the layout.

With this announcement, Starwood is becoming the first major hotel chain to require that all of it’s hotels under a specific brand meet LEED Certification. Barry Sternlicht’s 1 Hotel will also be LEED Certified - but the first 1 Hotel isn’t due to open until 2009 at the earliest. Element on the other hand is due to have 20 hotels open by the end of 2009 and around 200 hotels open in the next 5 years or so - each and every one of those hotels will be built with LEED Certification.

The biggest part of the announcement is the one that really no one seems to have noticed.. It states in the news release that Starwood will use Element has a lesson on how to extend LEED certification throughout the other brands and other properties in the Starwood umbrella. It sounds as though Starwood is going to be taking the same steps they did with making Westin non-smoking, then extending that ban to Sheraton & Four Points - although this will be alot harder since you can’t just wake up one morning and put LEED Certification signs throughout the building!

Making a brand LEED Certified is not an easy task and its also not cheap - people have to be trained and processes have to be changed for the certification, plus owners and developers have to be open for the possibility of a longer return on investment due to the cost of the implementation - but becoming LEED Certified will increase the public’s perception of the brand, as well as helping the environment. The public is becoming more and more aware of what LEED certification means, and if they have the choice between a “Green” hotel or a non-green hotel, even if they would have to pay a little more money - I think most would choose a green hotel.

Secondly, its becoming more and more apparent that society as a whole needs to take more care and consideration for how we live today so that the generations in front of us are able to live better than we live today. There will always be grass roots movements for change like this - but in order for it to really make a difference and in order for it to be “respected” initiatives need to be started from the top on down - I’m not just referring to the government, but the places we do business with day in and day out as well.

Starwood will probably run into issues when trying to extend the LEED Certification through their other brands - its not like they can just provide the same type of an item to all of the hotels and that will solve the problem. Each and every building and facility requires different components, and the owners or managers of the facilities will have to go along with the initiative. Ideally, they should welcome it with open arms - it will probably lower their bottom line in the future, end up paying for itself, make them look good, as well as possibly feeling that they have made a difference in the world. The only problem is reality is just not that easy.

It’s a little surprising to see that Starwood is the only major hotel brand that is really taking this initiative and extending it to all of their locations for the Element brand, as well as looking to see how they can extend it to their other brands. It’s my only hope that the other major’s follow in Starwood footsteps - but if the history of Starwood’s initiatives being followed by their competitors are an example - everyone will be lining up.

I’d like to see each and every hotel company attempt to integrate LEED Certification throughout their brands. The new rage over the past few years is to have newly created prototypes, so why can’t they extend the LEED Certification into those prototypes? It’s much easier and cheaper to put LEED Certification into a new-build project than an existing project - but you need to start somewhere!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

The Chelsea Atlantic City Renderings

Earlier this week I wrote an article on Hotel Chatter about the renderings for The Chelsea in Atlantic City but I wanted to elaborate on them in a little more space than HotelChatter’s articles allow me too.

As I’ve written about numerous times on this blog - The Chelsea located in the former Holiday Inn on the Boardwalk and adjoining Howard Johnson in Atlantic City is the first non-casino boutique hotel in Atlantic City. It’s also the first hotel in non-casino hotel to be opened in a number of decades that is not of the economy segment - of which Atlantic City has many of tucked in between some casinos in the boardwalk area.

The Chelsea had its work cut out for it, bringing in a hotel that has no branding or worldwide reservations center to support it, nor a casino ensuring a steady customer base day in and day out. After seeing these renderings and viewing the website - I’m happy to say that I think The Chelsea will be an overwhelming success.

The Chelsea is being positioned as more than just a hotel - its being positioned as an “it place”. Rather than boring restaurants that serve a very unoriginal menu the developers have brought in Stephen Starr to run two restaurants - one a steakhouse and another is a diner-inspired restaurant called Teplitzky’s. The design and decor of Teplitzky’s is unique because it brings back thoughts of the old-fashioned diners, and hotel-restaurants such as the Howard Johnson’s Restaurants (fitting since the building was once a Howard Johnson). Additionally The Chelsea’s destination place will be “The 5th Floor” which I believe will only be open to the public during the evening and contain a number of bars, lounge, game room, large pool deck and cabanas. During the summer it’s easy to see how it will be a popular night spot for those who dont want to spend all day in the Casino. Lastly, The Chelsea will include a spa which has a salt-water pool and has a lot of emphasis on salt type-treatments.

Of course you cannot forget the rooms, the hotel will be divided into two sections - Chelsea Luxe and Chelsea Lite. I’m pretty sure the Luxe portion will be in the high-rise adjoining the boardwalk, whereas the Lite portion will be the former Howard Johnson hotel which is only a few stories high and does not offer the same views as the high-rise portion. The room amenities will be the same, yet I think the only difference will be the size, decor and of course - the views.

The entire premise of The Chelsea is based upon bringing the Atlantic City of yesteryear back - yet with a modern twist. As I’ve mentioned previously in some posts, I don’t completely see that via the renderings, but then again - I really don’t know what my idea of a modern yesteryear is, but I’ll reserve final judgement for when the hotel opens as a lot of times its difficult to tell just via computer generated renderings. Although, the exterior look - pink neon lights & a classic neon sign clearly do the job!

The hotel is due to open in mid-July 2008, a minor delay from their original Memorial Day weekend opening - yet still very commendable since they have clearly done a top down renovation which started only in mid-2007.

Exterior of The Chelsea Atlantic City

 

The 5th Floor Pool Area - Click to Enlarge

 

The Crystal Room - The Chelsea’s Banquet Facility

 

The Chelsea Prime Steakhouse

Luxe Bedroom

 

Teplitsky’s Restaurant

andrew@alconic-inc.com

 

Elvis Themed Resort Being Planned for Vegas

I’m a little surprised that it’s taken this long to occur - but Las Vegas is going to be getting its first Elvis-themed hotel & casino - located right on the center of the strip. The interesting part about this story is who is building it - Robert F.X. Sillerman - Chairman & CEO of CKX, the company which owns American Idol (and you thought it was Simon Cowell) and the rights to Elvis Presley & Muhammed Ali. In addition, Sillerman owns Flag Luxury Properties, which is currently working with Starwood Capital in building the Baccarat Hotel in Anguilla, as well as a part owner in the group taking over (with Barry Sternlicht) the Riveria Casino just north on the Vegas Strip.

For awhile now, Flag Luxury Properties’ website had “18 Acres in the Center of the Las Vegas Strip” as one of their properties. Actual location is south of the Planet Hollywood and north of the MGM Grand. Not much information was posted about the property or the plans except that it would be “positioned as a phased master plan development”. Currently the property is home to a bunch of small commercial buildings and a small motel tower, even though it is “developed” (it’s not vacant raw land) it is one of the few areas on the strip that has not yet been overtaken by a casino.

Location of property in the center of map

Looks like that’s about to change.

Back in 2005 Robert Sillerman purchased the rights to Elvis Presley as well as Graceland with the intention of furthering development of the brand. At the time, it was rumored that he might possibly build an Elvis Presley Casino in Las Vegas - but the location was never speculated or mentioned. Now it seems as though the property on Flag Luxury Properties’ website is going to be at least partially made up of the Elvis and Muhammad Ali resort. In addition the property will also contain “retail, commercial, and residential development”. The entire project is contingent on financing and is tentatively scheduled to break ground in early 2009.

None of this was released via a typical press release - it was all contained within a SEC filing for the FX Real Estate firm, so it can be argued that this project isn’t even officially announced and is still very much on the drawing board - but one thing is clear, it is on the drawing board and it is seriously being considered. With all the current difficulty in receiving financing for this type of development - especially in Las Vegas - I think its a good possibility that the project may be delayed a number of years, but I would never see Sillerman disposing of the property. It’s much too valuable and even this market downturn will end eventually.

I had originally thought that this property would be home to Las Vegas’s first Baccarat Resort & Casino, especially since Barry Sternlicht has had a long relationship with Robert and his company starting back in the days when Flag Luxury’s Tenemos, Anguilla resort was branded as a St. Regis Hotel, now as we all know, the hotel portion of the resort is being re-branded as a Baccarat Hotel.

Ideally, this is a much better location for a Elvis Presley/Ali resort rather than a Baccarat resort due to its location smack in the middle of the Vegas Strip - directly across the street from MGM’s City Center project and the Cosmopolitan Resort which probably will end up being the W Las Vegas. With W finally making it’s entry into Vegas, along with the City Center Project, this two or three block area can easily become the busiest area on the strip if only for people walking through the shopping areas as well as the thousands of transient residents soon to be calling the Vegas Strip “home”.

Once again - this type of project just makes my mouth water! We’re seeing the beginning of a creation which could possibly change the image of the Vegas Strip as well as be recognized worldwide.

andrew@alconic-inc.com