Hotel looks to 2006
Two large groups have already booked conventions for 2007
Friday, April 22, 2005
She 10-story Embassy Suites under construction downtown will miss its much-wished-for opening this year to help celebrate Huntsville's bicentennial.
Developers now peg the completion date for the 300-room convention headquarters hotel for late summer or fall 2006.
Scott Tarwater, senior vice president of sales and marketing for John Q. Hammons Hotels, cited several reasons for the delay: weather, site preparation hurdles and a backlog of work from other Hammons hotels being built.
"We've got six under construction now," Tarwater said Tuesday.
Construction officials say the hotel should begin to rise within the next several weeks now that the foundation work is nearing completion. A tower crane and several drilling rigs loom over the site with little evidence of a hotel.
Mike McDaniel, senior project manager for FlintCo Construction of Memphis, said workers have put in 130 of the 213 giant caissons that will support the building. The supports extend 40 feet below the ground. A 125-slot parking garage will be under the hotel.
The work so far has gone smoothly except for an unexpected problem with water below the surface as the caisson holes were being drilled for concrete. That slowed construction somewhat because the water had to be pumped continuously from the excavations, he said.
"Usually, the big milestone is when you pour the top floor. We're looking at doing that sometime in early November," he said. McDaniel said crews have made up rain days by working through weekends.
Tarwater and Huntsville convention officials say word of the new hotel is generating interest among convention scouts.
"There has been a considerable amount of interest. Our phones have really been ringing," Tarwater said.
Judy Ryals, executive director of the Huntsville-Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the hotel will provide the critical mass of rooms next to the Von Braun Center that large group planners often look for when scouting sites. The nearby Holiday Inn Select, formerly the Huntsville Hilton, has 250 rooms.
"It's very rewarding to call groups back that we had tried to invite before and say we now have the facilities to host your group," Ryals said. Excitement over new restaurants and other additions downtown also seems to be catching the attention of group planners, she said.
"It's all setting a new bar for us. Meeting planners are looking at us under a different light because we will have so much more to offer," she said.
Mayor Loretta Spencer announced a major booking during the April 14 City Council meeting: A convention of highway and transportation officials from throughout the South. Ryals said that event, scheduled in 2007, will bring 700 to 800 people staying anywhere from four to five nights each. The new hotel also helped nab a large Alabama League of Municipalities convention two years ahead of schedule.
Ryals said bookings should increase when Hammons Hotels opens a marketing office here in August. Group planners will then have an on-site Embassy Suites contact to work with on room rates, meeting space, transportation, and accommodations at other hotels.
Embassy has informed Ryals its suites will go for $119 to $139. The rooms are all suites and the charge covers a daily breakfast and cocktail reception.
The delayed completion has turned at least one potential large gathering away. "It was a group of about 600 people and quite a few room nights," Ryals said.
Ryals said convention planners usually can be flexible since they book so far in advance. Tarwater said Hammons is looking forward to tapping into Huntsville hotel business. "It's very good. We've always been bullish on that market," he said.
|
Embassy Suitesat a glance
|
Copyright 2005 al.com. All Rights Reserved.