603-Room Hotel Splitting in Two

WINSTON-SALEM, NC-The 603-room, two-building Adam’s Mark Hotel next to the Benton Convention Center here is being renovated and split into two hotels as part of a $56-million public-private partnership between Atlanta-based Noble Investment Group and the City of Winston-Salem.Noble has agreed to commit $28 million to buy and renovate the hotel, and sign a 15-year lease with the city to manage the convention center, which is attached to the hotel complex via an underground tunnel. The city agreed to contribute $10 million to buy and renovate 38,000 sf of meeting space on the lower level of the hotel’s west tower. The city will then lease that meeting space back to Noble, as well as the hotel’s 24,000-sf grand ballroom, for $18 million ($600,000 a year for 30 years).As part of the $25-million renovation, the two hotel towers are being split into a 150-suite upscale Embassy Suites Hotel and a 316-room Marriott Hotel with approximately 70,000 sf of meeting and banquet space that will be operated in tandem with the convention center.Located at Cherry Street and Fifth Street in the heart of downtown Winston-Salem, the two towers will remain open during renovations and continue to operate under the Adam’s Mark name until the conversions are complete. The schedule anticipates construction beginning this fall after several major conventions have passed through. The goal is for the renovated hotels to in the summer of 2005.The Embassy Suites conversion includes creating a new street presence outside and a atrium lobby inside. As well, 10,000-sf of street front retail will be created along Cherry and Fifth streets and filled with a sports bar, doughnut and coffee shops and a bistro.The 316-room Marriott Hotel conversion will entail a complete renovation of each guest room, and a comprehensive exterior renovation, including a street-front, upscale specialty restaurant. Other amenities being considered include a spa and health club. “First, this project will align Benton Convention Center with two luxury hotel products, which will attract more groups and conventions to our city,” says Mayor Allen Jones. Also, the growth of the Piedmont Triad Research Park together with this project will create more opportunities to attract large corporate meetings and conferences, including bio-medical researchers.” And when Krispy Kreme Doughnuts world headquarters and their Unity Place development is completed several blocks from the convention complex, and the Sawtooth Center expansion is completed, Jones says local citizens will have even more reason to come downtown and enjoy these amenities. “As a result of this partnership, Winston-Salem will be a much more attractive destination for our citizens, our local companies and organizations nationwide,” he says. Gayle Anderson, president of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, says city leaders believe the investment will be a catalyst for further development and redevelopment in the core downtown area. “(Noble’s) investment creates a highly competitive venue for local and regional companies, which will attract more corporate business, meetings and conventions, as well as leisure travel to downtown,” he says. “As momentum builds in the downtown area, we expect to see the proposed new restaurants and retail area on Fifth Street come alive, creating more jobs and a more vibrant downtown.”Noble currently owns and/or manages 22 hotels with 3,300 rooms together with 41 hotels with 6,044 rooms operated by Alliance Hospitality Management, a majority owned affiliate of Noble Investment Group. Noble’s development arm, Stormont Noble Development, and its predecessors have developed nearly $700 million in hospitality projects representing close to 5,500 rooms and 300,000 sf of convention and meeting space.