The $150-million project, which calls for 600,000 sf of space, would replace the Wells Fargo parking lot on Fifth and Howard streets. Bank employees and customers could park in an unutilized parking garage underground. The timing on a decision was not immediately available.
Continental's executive vice president Leonard Blakesley tells GlobeSt.com the project is being proposed just in time and in the right place. The nearby W hotel has been completed, the St. Regis Hotel is under construction and negotiations on Bloomingdale's are pending. "Our project is like the fourth leg of a chair," says Blakesley.
A study conducted by Palmer Groth & Pietka backs him up. The study finds that even if the city approves the hotel and condo proposal at 400 feet, the city will be short 1,000 rooms by 2006 and 2,000 by 2008.
"We would like to get started on this right away and have it done as soon as possible," says Blakesley, whose company is now working on an environmental report for the city planning department. "It will take 25 months to complete the project once we start."
At 160-feet, the dwarfed project would not only do much less to solve the shortage, it would resemble a Days Inn or Best Western, and "that would not be fitting with the character and quality of the area."
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