DOWNTOWN AUSTIN HOTELS
Developer plans upscale Hyatt Place hotel downtown
By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 11, 2009
White Lodging Services Corp., the developer of the as yet unbuilt 1,000-room Marriott hotel on Congress Avenue, is planning to build a second downtown hotel: an upscale, 276-room Hyatt Place that the company hopes to build once the economy and hotel industry improve.
"We believe there is a continued niche for premium-branded, upscale hotels in downtown Austin, and the Hyatt name carries a very strong reputation," said Deno Yiankes, president and CEO of investment and development for White Lodging. However, "we'd need to see a rebound before we'd feel comfortable moving forward," he said.
The 15-story hotel would be built at the southwest corner of Third Street and San Jacinto Boulevard, currently the site of a parking lot.
White Lodging recently obtained a zoning change to build a larger hotel than existing regulations would have allowed.
All 276 rooms would be oversized suites, 25 percent larger than a traditional hotel room, he said.
"Any start date is going to be predicated on what unfolds in the overall economy and the debt financing markets over the next six to 12 months," Yiankes said.
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