Converting the 250-room Chateau Bourbon Hotel on Canal Street from a three-diamond Wyndham hotel to a four-diamond Hyatt will mean more money for city government, the hotel's landlord, officials said as the New Orleans City Council approved amendments to the leases for the hotel and garage buildings.
The hotel, which opened in 1995 as the Chateau Sonesta, will be extensively renovated and "rebranded" by May 2012, Tom Leonhard, president of HRI Properties, told the council. It will remain open throughout the conversion.
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Leonhard said the hotel's lobby, bar and restaurant areas will be upgraded, and the operators will seek new tenants for two retail spaces that have been vacant since Hurricane Katrina. He said 80 percent of the 22,000 square feet available for retail is now occupied.
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