The hotel rooms will be outfitted with 42" flat-panel HDTVs, Hyatt signature beds and oversized sofa-sleepers in each room. The hotel itself will have 1,500 sf of meeting space, an outdoor pool and a fitness center. RYS Architects is the architect of record.

ABA co-founder Jesse Allison tells GlobeSt.com that the impetus behind the project is its location next to the Galleria and across from the Fountains lifestyle center, and the upcoming convention center. Given the prime location, he hopes to achieve meet or beat the results that other comparable hotels in the market are experiencing, which is an average occupancy of 72% and an average daily room rate of $140. If that happens it will be a solidly profitable venture, he says.

The Hyatt Place, the company's first project, is one of three for which the company expects to break ground this year. The company also has plans for a 151 Hyatt Place in Vista, CA and a 131-unit, Summerfield Suites by Hyatt in Tempe, AZ, next to the newly constructed Warner Village retail center. Site work will get underway in the next couple of months for the Tempe project, which is slated for delivery in fall 2010. Work on the Vista, CA project is tentatively slated to get underway by the end of the year and be complete several months after the Tempe project.