News
Navy Yard Joins Hotel Rush
October 24, 2012
| The Navy Yard redevelopment is already home to 120 companies and 10,000 employees in the office and industrial properties. By next fall, it’s going to have a hotel, too. (And soon, a launch pad for space ships! Sorry, that's not true, we just got swept up.) |
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| “We believe that the Philadelphia market is quite strong for hotels, and the uniqueness of the Navy Yard creates a market of its own,” says Louis Cicalese, who's co-developing just such a hotel (right, at the recent groundbreaking with Ensemble Hotel Partners’ Kam Babaoff and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter— you should've seen those suits after they finished). “There was a very strong need for a hotel in the area with upscale amenities, such as a full-service restaurant and lounge and meeting facilities,” Louis notes. Hoteliers are perceiving a strong need for their product throughout the city, evidenced by the recent opening of Hotel Monaco Philadelphia and the upcoming Home2 Suites Philadelphia. Center City hotels enjoy about 75% occupancy, the highest of any year going back to 2000, according to Smith Travel Research. |
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| There haven’t been any significant snags in getting the Navy Yard hotel to groundbreaking, Louis says, just the usual challenges: building to a budget, financing, and designing a hotel that all parties are satisfied with. When it’s complete in about a year, the property will be a five-story, 172-room Courtyard by Marriott designed by Erdy McHenry Architects of Philadelphia (people milling about sold separately). It will, among other features, include an articulated façade that will vary in color and shadow depending upon the time of day and intensity of sunlight. |
