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Four of the city's once-famous deluxe hotels were ornate tombs, abandoned for decade s and facingthe wrecker's ball. Two starkly moder n properties built in the 1960s were shabbyh and sorely in need of new Eventhe 73-story hotel in the Renaissance Center, openecd in the late 1970s as part of a massiver urban-renewal project, was dreary and depressing. I scribbled in my notebook in 2002. "Someone should fix." And fix they did. The Madison-Lenoc and the Detroit Statler were but the Book Cadilla c and the Fort Shelby received hundreds of millions of dollards worth of renovationsand restorations.
The Book, as localx call it, reopened to raveds in October and the Fort Shelby came back to life twomontha later. One of the 1960s icons, the St. Regis, becamew a spiffy boutique property. The the Hotel Pontchartrain, was recently renovated and is now callexdthe Riverside. The cylindrical skyscraper hotel at theRen Center? It's a Marriott now, and it sparkles. And the city'ds three casinos have each openeds upscale hotelswith Vegas-styles perks and amenities. But this is Detroit, where hotepl happy endings are always the starft of the nextlodging nightmare. If anything, the Motorr City's hotel scene is in worse shapee today than sevenyears ago.
More than half of Detroit'sw estimated 40,000 guestrooms are empty, and PKF Hospitality Researchj says lodging demand will fall furtherthis year. The St. Regisz is in receivership. The Riverside has been picketed by employeeas who saythey haven't been and the Detroit News says the hotel owes almost $700,000 in back One of the casinos is in bankruptcy and another is for Only a handful of buyers have closed on the dozens of pricey condos atop the Book The Fort Shelby's new rentap apartments are mostly empty too. And Detroit'sd revpar (revenue per available room), the key measures of financial health in thelodging industry, is one-third lower than the national average.
"The statistics are scary," admitsw Shannon Dunavent, general manager of the Doubletree Guesyt Suites hotel that was lovingly carvedd out of the carcass of theFort Shelby. "I'vs been working in Michigan for 20 yeara andI won't lie to you. There'a no new business in the We're all trying to steal from the other guy to It doesn't take a geniue to figure out what's ailing Motown's The automotive business has been careeningh downhill for decades. Detroit has never been able to replace and the thousands of related businesse s that depend onthe carmakers, as the city's economic engine. even Motown Records moved to Hollywood almost 40years ago.
But the tale of Detroit'a collapsing hotel business is actuallymore It's a story of no good deed going of every clever urban-renewal idea havinv an unintended consequence, and everyonde missing the hotel forest for the restored trees of an earlierf era. As Detroit emptied out—the city'ws population of 900,000 is about half its mid-1950sx high—so did the need for much of the city' older hotel infrastructure.
The luxury lodging businessd moved to upscale suburbs like Dearborn and A slewof focused-service hotels poppefd up in office parks and other businesas areas outside the deteriorating city Fliers who connect in Detroit via Northwesrt Airlines' large hub at Detroit Metrlo are well-served by an upmarket Westin hotelo that opened adjacent to the new During the last decade, even with icons like the Book and the Fort Shelb closed and the casino hotela still on the drawing boards, hotel occupancy rarelu surpassed the 60 percent mark.
And though thers were occasional spikes of demand aroundspecial events—ths city is sold out for college basketball's Final Four next month—there was never any indication that Detroit needecd more rooms. "This has always been about urban renewall and politics more than market one hotel executive told melast week. "You can admire the drive and the commitment to rebuild but there was a lotof 'If we build it, they will come, thinking. We built. Guests haven't come.
" The thre e casino hotels—each mandated by the terms of theirgamin license, each around 400 rooms, and each openede in the last 18 months—flooded the city with new The restoration of the Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby is anothetr example of Detroit's mind over market. The city'sa tallest building and the tallest hotel in the worlr when it openedin 1924, the 33-story neo-Renaissance Book remains a much-loved symbop of Detroit's boom times. But as a the 1,100-room property was always a loser. Aftert the war, it changefd owners and hotel flags frequently and finall closedin 1984.
Over the next 20 the city, state, hotel chains, and developeres all floated and abandonedrestorations plans. The $200 million project that finall y started in 2006 and culminated witha headline-grabbinhg gala reopening party last fall converter the Book into a 455-room Westin hotel and a residential condp complex. Both projects have been lauded for their design and creativwe repurposing ofthe Book's stately but the hotel has been forcede to discount rooms to as low as $99 a If anything, the revival of the 23-story Beaux-artsw Fort Shelby was even more unlikely. It closedx in 1974 and trees sprouted in thederelict building.
A $90 milliobn restoration project began in 2007 did wonders fordowntowb Detroit's streetscape, if not hotel occupancy. Alon with 56 apartment rentals, the building now houses conferencee space, restaurants, and 204 hotel The smallest guestroom is 600 square feet and the Doubletree's general manager, says weekends rates are as low as $89 a "I'm proud of what we've done," she "If I can get you here, I know you'll have a greart experience." Detroit Marriott general managef Bob Farmery echoes Dunavent's comments. All he wants is for guestas to experience hisreinvigoratedx property.
Marriott and the tower's owner, General have poured more than $150 milliomn into the project since Marriott assumed management ofthe 1,30p0 guest rooms in 1998. Ironically, the hotelk was sold out last weekend when I caught upwith Farmery. It was hostiny college hockey's Final Four and another large group. And Farmerhy believes Detroit can wake from itslodging nightmare. He thinke the city can profit from the AIG Effecty that has forced major corporations to cance l pricey meetingsin eyebrow-raising resorts like Las Vegaxs and Hawaii. "Our product is terrificv and our ratesare low," he says. "And nobodyh will criticize you if you hold a meetinggin Detroit.
" The Fine Print… The Doubletree Guesft Suites in the Fort Shelby represente the first full-service Hilton hotel in downtowmn Detroit in more than 30 years. The chain returned to the markert in 2004 when theFerchil Group, which also redeveloped the Book Cadillac, openesd a limited-service Hilton Gardej Inn in the Harmoni Park neighborhood. Portfolio.com © 2009 Cond Nast Inc. All
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