NEW ORLEANS -- Sleeping in a department store, an office building,
a Masonic temple or a YMCA isn't the usual recommendation agents
give clients.
But maybe it should be for New Orleans, where creative
conversions have placed hotels in a variety of interesting
settings.
Among the most recent is the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans.
This 452-room property, which opened in October after a $200
million restoration, is located in two architectural landmarks on
Canal Street that for years housed two department stores, the
Maison Blanche and Kress.
The hotel offers an array of special features, including a
20,000-square-foot day spa and fitness center and a new restaurant,
called Victor's, set in the location of a historic restaurant of
the same name that originally opened in the 1830s.
The Maison Blanche building also will be home to the 253-unit
Iberville Suites, slated to open at the end of 2000, and the
80-room Maison Orleans, scheduled for a January opening. The Maison
Orleans is steps away from the Chateau Sonesta, which is also
housed in a former department store.
Another new property opened this year is The Whitney -- A
Wyndham Historic Hotel, located on Poydras Street in the central
business district.
Created following a $10 million renovation of the 110-year-old
Whitney Bank Building, the 93-room hotel is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The hotel features restored original items, including iron
gates, a brass chandelier and a private dining area for 10 located
in a space that once served as a bank vault.
Down the street, and also newly opened this year, is the
150-room Drury Inn & Suites, housed in a former office building
built in 1917.
Nearing completion is the Hotel Le Cirque, an upscale 151-room
property that is to open in January in the location of the former
Lee Circle YMCA.
This hotel, located in the heart of the arts district, is
walking distance to a number of museums, including the recently
opened D-Day Museum.
Additional creative use of available space in New Orleans is in
the works for the years to come.
Next summer, the San Francisco-based Kimpton Group plans to open
the 250-room Hotel Monaco New Orleans in a former Masonic temple on
St. Charles Avenue built in 1930.
The modified modern Gothic building is undergoing a $34 million
renovation.
Three of the building's lodge rooms will be converted into
meeting space and a fitness room.
The lobby's original marble floor and vaulted ceiling will be
restored, and guest rooms will be created from the building's
office space.
Other proposed conversions, which are subject to change, include
a large Woolworth building, slated to open as a 410-room Crowne
Plaza in 2002.
Two projects in the process of seeking financing are slated for
2002 openings: a 678-room hotel to open in the World Trade Center
and a 700-room property in the Lykes office building, both in the
central business district.
Also pending approval is a 100-room Marriott hotel, to be
converted from a former furniture store in the warehouse district,
steps away from the convention center.
With a room count now of approximately 30,000, the city is in
the middle of a bona fide hotel boom, largely due to the convention
market, according to Beverly Gianna, vice president of public
affairs at the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors
Bureau.
"Conventions and trade shows are getting larger and larger," she
said. "Of course, [convention planners] prefer hotels to be close
to the convention center and the French Quarter/central business
district. Many of our old buildings, such as the department stores,
are historic, and there are tax incentives to renovate the old
buildings.
"There has been a moratorium on adding hotel rooms in the French
Quarter since 1969 or thereabouts," Gianna added.
But with almost all of the new properties a quick walk from the
French Quarter, the Garden District and the convention center, they
are well situated to take advantage of the meetings market as well
as leisure travel.
For more information, contact the New Orleans Metropolitan
Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 748-8695 or (504)
566-5011.
The bureau is on at the Web at www.neworleanscvb.com.