WICHITA, Kansas—LodgeWorks Partners LP has evolved in the two years since its September 2011 sale of 20 hotels to Hyatt Hotels Corporation for $661 million.
“After the transaction with Hyatt, we shrunk down to a small company, but we’re growing again—even though from a small beginning,” said Mike Daood, partner and president. “While we’ve continued to grow as a franchisee and operator, we’ve also looked for opportunities as they present themselves.”
In addition to managing a portfolio of branded properties, many of them with Hyatt flags, the company is looking at developing hotels under a new boutique identity it created, Archer Hotel.
The first Archer, which Daood describes as a residence rather than a hotel, is under construction in New York’s Manhattan Garment District. The 21-story, 180-room property is scheduled to open in 2014. The company last week announced a second Archer as part of a mixed-use development in Napa, California.
Daood said the Archer concept was created to tell a story about the city in which each hotel is located.
“Archer is a fictitious persona we created to be a curator of all things he finds to be great about hospitality,” Daood said. “We think of these locations as residences so we try to bring what we find to be fantastic about the local place into that experience through Archer’s eyes.”
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| Rendering of the lobby design for the Archer Hotel in New York. |
While each hotel will be unique to its locale, Daood said they will share some common denominators, including “a food-and-beverage experience unique to that environment,” which, in most cases, will be a chef-driven restaurant from either a celebrity chef or top chef in the market.
In the New York property, celebrity chef and restaurateur David Burke will direct the hotel’s restaurant and rooftop bar. Design and artwork are other hallmarks of the Archer concept.
Interior designer Glen Coben of Glen & Company created four design palettes for the hotel’s guestrooms. Other elements—drapery, headboards, ottomans, throw pillows and blankets—vary within the designs, resulting in 22 possible guestroom looks. The lobby will feature a large multi-media art installation from digital and video artist Artie Vierkant.
In Napa, LodgeWorks is partnering with Zapolski Real Estate to include the Archer in a 150,000-square-foot retail and hospitality development in downtown Napa. LodgeWorks previously developed an Avia Hotel near its new site in Napa. The hotel was part of the transaction with Hyatt, which converted it to the Andaz Napa.
Daood said LodgeWorks will pursue development of the Archer concept on an opportunistic basis.
“Archer is a solution for select locations where an independent, local experience can exist without branding, and maybe the consumer prefers a traditional non-branded experience,” he said. “We’re in a fortunate spot to be well-capitalized and able to look at each opportunity independently. We don’t have a quota of hotels we’re trying to get through our internal process.”
LodgeWorks’ portfolio includes both owned and managed properties under a variety of brands, including Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Hilton Garden Inn and Aloft. The company is developing a 116-room Hampton Inn in Brooklyn, New York, which opens next spring.