URBAN GURU
16 August 2005, 06:52 PM
Bryan Long
Staff Writer
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Barry Real Estate Cos. to build a 250 room W Hotel with 75 luxury condominiums in Atlanta's downtown market.
The hotel and condos will be built at 45 Allen Plaza and will be part of the larger Allen Plaza complex that includes the new home for Southern Co. (NYSE: SO).
Sid Narang, the senior director for acquisitions and development for Starwood Hotel's W brand, would not confirm whether a letter of intent had been signed but did say the company is in conversations on several sites in Atlanta.
"From a market standpoint, Atlanta is important to the brand group," Narang said. Harvey Rudy, vice president of development at Barry Real Estate Cos., would not comment on the deal.
"I can't tell you anything about it and that's whether we have a deal or we don't," Rudy said. "I just can't comment."
This may mark the third site for a W Hotel in Atlanta. Starwood put one of its first W test properties in Atlanta's Perimeter area in 1999.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood (NYSE: HOT) also has plans to build a 225-room W Hotel at the site of the old Lenox Inn, which was demolished in fall 2003. Starwood owns the 3.6-acre property at 3387 Lenox Road and initially intended to start construction in 2004.
Allen Plaza, an office/hotel development, is on a high-profile three-block tract of land northeast of Centennial Olympic Park and bounded by the Interstate 75/85 Downtown Connector, West Peachtree Place, and West Peachtree and Williams streets. The Georgia Aquarium is nearing completion nearby.
Staff Writer
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Barry Real Estate Cos. to build a 250 room W Hotel with 75 luxury condominiums in Atlanta's downtown market.
The hotel and condos will be built at 45 Allen Plaza and will be part of the larger Allen Plaza complex that includes the new home for Southern Co. (NYSE: SO).
Sid Narang, the senior director for acquisitions and development for Starwood Hotel's W brand, would not confirm whether a letter of intent had been signed but did say the company is in conversations on several sites in Atlanta.
"From a market standpoint, Atlanta is important to the brand group," Narang said. Harvey Rudy, vice president of development at Barry Real Estate Cos., would not comment on the deal.
"I can't tell you anything about it and that's whether we have a deal or we don't," Rudy said. "I just can't comment."
This may mark the third site for a W Hotel in Atlanta. Starwood put one of its first W test properties in Atlanta's Perimeter area in 1999.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood (NYSE: HOT) also has plans to build a 225-room W Hotel at the site of the old Lenox Inn, which was demolished in fall 2003. Starwood owns the 3.6-acre property at 3387 Lenox Road and initially intended to start construction in 2004.
Allen Plaza, an office/hotel development, is on a high-profile three-block tract of land northeast of Centennial Olympic Park and bounded by the Interstate 75/85 Downtown Connector, West Peachtree Place, and West Peachtree and Williams streets. The Georgia Aquarium is nearing completion nearby.