http://hamptonroads.com/2008/05/down...s-westin-brand
Downtown Norfolk hotel project expands, gets Westin brand
The city of Norfolk made it official Tuesday: The convention center hotel downtown will carry the Westin brand name and top out at 23 stories.
The announcement means that local partners LTD Management, Robinson Development and Fulco Development have reached an agreement with billionaire Robert L. Johnson, effectively releasing him from a commitment to build the convention center hotel.
The agreement clears the way for the developers, operating as the Norfolk Hotel Alliance LLC Partnership, to proceed with the $150 million convention center hotel project that will include the hotel, a 50,000-square-foot conference center and a 600-space parking garage.
The project, at Main and Granby streets where three historic buildings were torn down to make way for it, is a public-private venture that will be financed largely with city dollars.
Johnson began negotiating with city officials in 2003, and reached an agreement to build a Hilton Hotel in 2005. Last year, citing increasing construction costs and what he feared was an impending recession, Johnson told city officials he wanted to pull out.
Without bids, LTD Management of Chesapeake was quickly chosen to replace Johnson as the lead developer. Assistant City Manager Stanley A. Stein said the local developers will have the same deal with the city as did Johnson's group.
Stein said construction likely won't begin until next spring. The hotel is slated to open in 2011.
The project has been completely redesigned since LTD took over. The Westin will have 301 guest rooms, 51 more than Johnson was to build, including 12 "luxury suites." It will also feature two restaurants.
The project will be topped off with six stories of condominiums that have been presold. Most or all have been purchased by LTD officials.
The project will be heavily subsidized by the city, which paid $9.3 million for land acquisition and will pay the developers a $7.5 million "performance grant," in which some taxes generated by the hotel will be returned to the owners.
The city has contracted with LTD to construct the $49 million conference center and a $20 million parking deck. The parking deck will be paid for with user's fees. The conference center will be financed with hotel and restaurant taxes.
In addition, the city will provide a $750,000 performance grant if LTD is able to persuade an upscale restaurant, such as a Morton's steakhouse, to locate at the hotel.
Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot, who had said Johnson's hotel proposal wasn't upscale enough, praised LTD.
"This is all I had hoped for," he said. "When we first went down this road, I thought it needed to be a signature project with all of the resources we're putting into it.
"We needed a larger hotel and they gave it to us. We needed something like a Westin and they gave it to us. They're really stepping up at the plate."
Councilman Barclay C. Winn echoed Burfoot's praise of LTD.
"I have a lot of confidence in LTD," he said. "Every project they do is first class. They take care of their properties. They do what they say they're going to do. They're local, and you know where to find them.
"I feel so much better than I did with the previous developer."
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