News Archive: December
Ravages of War: Lonely Trio Struggle to Keep 140 Year-Old Hotel Palmyra in Baalbek, Lebanon Alive
December 4, 2013
Dec. 04--BAALBEK, Lebanon -- Located directly across the street from the ruins at Baalbek, the Hotel Palmyra owes its existence and success to the site's ability to attract tourists. A list of its foreign visitors would include French Gen. Charles de Gaulle, German Kaiser Wilhelm II and Albert Einstein. Lebanese icons, such as Fairuz and Sabah, were known to frequent the renowned hotel in the '60s during the popular Baalbeck Festival. "It was the best hotel in Baalbek at the time," Ghassan Karaa, the current manager of the Palmyra, says from his spacious office off the grand entrance hall, with a desk that features the building's sole p...
Four New Hotels Totaling Over 300 Rooms are in the Works for Oxford, Mississippi
December 28, 2013
Dec. 28--OXFORD -- In a city with just seven existing hotels, Oxford has four additional hotels in various stages, from early planning to almost closed-in. The nearest to completion is the TownePlace Suites by Marriott, a 95-room extended-stay hotel on Ed Perry Boulevard, across from the Oxford Conference Center and adjacent to the Hampton Inn East. "We're on schedule. We have an excellent general contractor on the team, and it's coming along," said Chan Patel, whose family owns several hotels in Oxford. TownePlace Suites will be marketed as an extended-stay hotel. Currently workers are building the top story of masonry-block walls and ...
Dell Inc. Plans to Build 96-room La Quinta Inn & Suites in Duluth, Minnesota
December 11, 2013
Dec. 11--Plans were revealed Tuesday for another hotel in Duluth's Miller Hill Mall area while plans progressed for two Kwik Trip stores in western Duluth. Dell Inc. of Fargo, N.D., plans to build a three-story, 96-room La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel at 1805 Maple Grove Road, just north of Miller Trunk Highway next to the Floor to Ceiling store and across from the Vein Clinic. Dell Inc. also owns La Quinta Inns in Fargo and Bismarck, N.D. A plan review for the hotel -- required because of the scope of the project -- went before the Duluth Planning Commission on Tuesday. Commissioners tabled the matter for one week to learn more about ...
Daewoo-led Korean Consortium to Launch $220 Million Project Developing Two Hotels in Yangon, Myanmar
December 3, 2013
Dec. 03--SEOUL (The Korea Herald/ANN) -- A Korean consortium led by Daewoo International will launch a project to develop luxury hotel infrastructure in Yangon, Myanmar, the company said Monday. The POSCO trading arm and three other Korean companies are to build a 14-floor luxury hotel and a 29-floor serviced residence building on a 2,183-square-metre site near Inya Lake, one of the most popular recreational areas in Yangon. "The $220 million project will kick off soon as three other companies have reached an agreement for their roles in the project and scale of investment," a company official said. The three other players to join the p...
Why Sales & Operations Will Never Get Along
Steve DiGioia | December 28, 2013
By Steve DiGioia In the world of business there are many components that make up a successful venture. All must work as a team with the one vision in mind, which is the health and prosperity of the company. But business is also a daily battle. The procurement/purchasing department is obliviously involved in getting the necessary goods in house that are needed to manufacture a product. But they are bound with the task of not getting more than is needed or have available capital tied up in inventory. That makes sense. But what if they are tightening their belt a little too much and under-order based on business needs? This will of course ...
Hotel Construction is Booming in Vancouver, Washington; Three New Hotels to Bring Nearly 300 Rooms
December 19, 2013
Dec. 19--Hotel construction is once again booming in Vancouver, with projects such as a Hampton Inn and Suites at the former Evergreen Airport under way in a local market that is just now returning to pre-recession occupancy rates. The 99-room Hampton is one of three east Vancouver projects expected to bring nearly 300 new rooms to the area within the next two years. Two other hotel proposals -- a 115-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott and an 83-room Candlewood Suites -- have been hailed as good signs of economic growth with the potential to create hundreds of construction jobs. However, plans for the three hotels to come online all at ...
Naples’ Edgewater Beach Hotel, a Former Waldorf Astoria, Managed by Ocean Properties Sells for $55M
December 24, 2013
Dec. 24--NAPLES -- The Edgewater Beach Hotel in Naples has sold for $55 million. Public records show Panthers RPN LLC, whose address is care of Blackstone Real Estate Associates in New York, sold the hotel Nov. 26 to Naples Edgewater LLC, based in Delray Beach. The registered agent of Naples Edgewater is Richard H. Critchfield of Delray Beach. None of the four managers of the company is based in Naples, state records show. A beachfront fixture since 1984, the hotel has 125 one- and two-bedroom suites and two pools. It last sold for $38 million in 1998. Formerly part of Hilton Worldwide's Waldorf Astoria brand, the hotel is now part of t...
Developer Nathan Kirby to Convert 100-year-old High Rise in Gastonia, NC to Upscale Hotel
December 23, 2013
Dec. 23--GASTONIA -- The narrow six-story bank building went up in downtown Gastonia nearly 100 years ago -- the city's first high rise and a symbol of its textile prosperity. Construction took four years and only the finest materials were used, including marble, Honduran mahogany and African ebony. Faces of the Greek god Dionysus decorated outside walls of the neo-classical structure. When the First National Bank went bust in the Great Depression, the 23,500-square-foot building at 168 W. Main Ave. turned into office space, primarily for lawyers. Since the 1980s it has stood empty, a symbol of downtown Gastonia's struggling economy. Bu...
