Facelift for downtown's aging Marshall Hotel; local owners propose 'boutique hotel'
By Bob Shallit - Bee Business Columnist
Published 5:15 pm PDT Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Downtown's aging Marshall Hotel on Seventh Street would be reborn as a 150-room boutique hotel, under plans now under city review.
The five-story Marshall, currently a single-room hotel catering to low-income tenants, would be rehabbed to include two additional floors and a connecting 14-story tower at the current site of the Jade Apartments.
The resulting complex near the corner of Seventh and L streets would cater to business travelers and be operated by the Grand Heritage Hotel Group, a Maryland company that also runs the historic Governor Hotel in Portland and 10 other properties nationwide.
A ground-floor restaurant and upscale tavern also are in the plans, which we first encountered in an
enterprising blog called "Livinginurbansac"(http://livinginurbansac.blogspot.com/).
"This is a real project, we're moving forward and we think it can make a big impact (downtown)," says Pete Noack, a local real estate broker and part of an investment group that owns the Marshall and the Jade apartments.
The first step is a presentation tonight to the city's preservation board. Then the developers hope to submit plans and seek building permits.
Noack says he expects to collect some financial help from the city, which has expressed interest in upgrading some of downtown's single-room-occupancy hotels, and the rest from private lenders.
"Right now, the capital markets are jittery," he says, but anticipates things will be better in 18 months or so when the partners hit up lenders.
Noack and his partners acquired the Marshall two years ago and immediately began looking at potential new uses for the ramshackle, 94-year-old building.
One concern is what happens to the 75 or so tenants now at the Marshall.
"We're following the (city's) relocation ordinance," he says, which requires that low-income tenants be provided with housing alternatives when displaced.
For the rest of Bob Shallit's column, see Wednesday's Business section.