Already under construction, the Le Meridien will be a 22-story hotel with 42-inch, wall-mounted "plasma screen" TVs, backlit photographs commissioned to reflect the local culture and environment, glass-etched, handcrafted headboards designed to be centerpiece elements in the rooms, and freestanding "shower towers with multiple body jets and glass screens" and, in some rooms, Victorian-style "roll-type" bathtubs.
Minneapolis hotel developer Jim Graves had originally planned to build a Marriott Renaissance hotel as part of the development. Graves and his partners are suing to get out of that partnership, claiming Marriott didn't deliver on its end of the agreement.
Marriott has sued in return, arguing Graves broke the agreement.
The concept is the creation of Juergen Bartels, chief executive of Le Meridien, who says Block E will be the site of the first "Art + Tech Le Meridien" in the US.
Le Meridien recently announced a $1.2-billion global investment program designed to dramatically upgrade its facilities along the Art + Tech design in an effort to improve over the next three years the brand's hotel industry rankings.
The new Art + Tech room will feature in the majority of Le Meridien hotels and there are now are plans for 5,000 rooms to be renovated around the world. Some hotels will become all Art + Tech properties, whereas other more traditional hotels, such as The Ritz in Madrid, may include an Art +Tech annex. The first all Art + Tech room hotel will be The Cumberland Hotel in central London.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
