Feb. 13–CORPUS CHRISTI — After forming an investment company to purchase and revamp Embassy Suites Corpus Christi with a retro-modern design, company CEO Deven Bhakta questioned his decision, he said.
“I know the business, Corpus Christi and the hotel’s clientele,” Bhakta said. “Embassy Suites was a marquis hotel from the 1980s that was a bit neglected and tired.”
He didn’t know much of the place was held together with duct tape, he said.
“Sometimes you wonder if you’re taking on something too old,” Bhakta said. “But now our guests are raving, and those pains are going away.”
ZJZ Hospitality, the development company that acquired the hotel in July 2011, unveils its multimillion-dollar renovation Thursday.
ZJZ, which still has amenities under the Hilton umbrella of services, is hosting a multichamber grand reopening at 5:30-7:30 p.m. to showcase the hotel’s new look.
Guest suites and meeting rooms have been rebuilt from ceilings to floors, outfitted with new fixtures, bedding, draperies and furniture.
The outdated indoor swimming pool was gutted and re-crafted with Mediterranean tile, a new hot tub and poolside furnishings.
The reception area was rebuilt with a posh lobby bar for guest and business happy hour activities.
“It’s been perhaps one of the most costly Hilton renovations in the U.S. per key,” said Bhakta about the more than 150-room hotel.
Some things haven’t changed.
The hotel opened in September 1984 — at a cost of $11 million — as Granada Royale Hometel.
It offered the best bargain in town — a two-room suite for $49 per night plus free evening cocktails and breakfast.
Both are on the new management’s menu.
It and others in the Granada chain belonged to Holiday Inns, but the Corpus Christi hotel was built with the aid of $8 million in tax-exempt city industrial revenue bonds, according to Caller-Times archives.
For more than three decades, its nearly football field-sized skylighted atrium has been a mainstay hospitality community center along South Padre Island Drive, now flanked with half a dozen new international brand luxury hotels.
Its 160-by-60-foot atrium floor space has served as an art gallery for exhibits and been the backdrop for French folk singers and international guitarists for couples marrying there.
There have been citywide events planned there, chamber mixers, and it has been the site of the launch of academic and sporting events. It has been the state’s feedback forum space for highway development projects, and politicians have shared campaign announcements there.
More recently, about two years ago, then-new police chief Floyd Simpson launched a fundraising motorcycle ride from the hotel’s front canopy.
“There’s been so many great things that have happened at the hotel,” said Melody Nixon-Bice, general manager for 12 years.
There have been some bad times, too, she said, such as an incident earlier this year that resulted in the loss of a life.
A San Antonio band member died after a fight with another band member.
“Our hearts go out to those involved,” Nixon-Bice said. “It’s not a reflection of the type of clientele we consistently enjoy. The same people come back year after year because they like our service and amenities.
“The changes have been wonderful. We’re excited about the future.”
Twitter: @Caller_BizMike
