REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Stories can be hidden within a building’s walls—sometimes literally. And those stories can translate into a hotel’s design. At least that’s what two hoteliers discovered during renovations of historic properties.
“We have a poster, probably about 5 feet tall by 3 feet wide, and it’s the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ poster from 1934,” said Kyle Highberg, GM at the recently opened Residence Inn Omaha Downtown in Nebraska. “We found it in the walls here.”
The 152-suite property opened for business 3 October after a $23-million conversion from Omaha’s historic federal building. The building, purchased in 2012 by First Hospitality Group and its partner Nelson Construction & Development, was occupied by several branches of government until 2008.
Featured on the National Register of Historical Places, the property was built in the early 1930s and first opened in 1934.
Highberg said it was important to the city to keep its charm and character. The hotel is located in a place that in the 1950s was referred to as the “Kissing Corner,” where wives would kiss their husbands off to war, he said. It is also located across the street from Union Pacific Railroad, whose building was established around the same time.
James Lim, area managing director of Joie de Vivre Hotels, tells a similar story when it comes to the 177-room Galleria Park Hotel in San Francisco.
The property is built on the site of The Lick House and Occidental Hotel, which were destroyed by an earthquake and fire in 1906. In 1911, a new hotel, the Hotel Sutter, was constructed in the same location. This property would become the bones of the Galleria Park, dubbed as the most historic property within Joie de Vivre’s collection.
The building underwent a $7.1-million renovation in 2008, Lim said. The most recent $4-million renovation, which he said is still ongoing, started 18 months ago.
When it comes to rehabbing a hotel in an iconic building, Lim and Highberg said it was important for their teams to preserve the history through design.
Designing history
Highberg and Lim said the outside façade of their buildings were required to remain intact.
But it’s little touches inside the hotels such as the Residence Inn’s FBI poster—a plywood board that boasts pictures of John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, among other Chicago mobsters from the ‘30s—that help to further preserve history.
Highberg said unique elements make up the décor package of the Residence Inn’s lobby, including the old U.S. Treasury safe doors—which guests can open and close—with the seal on the front in original condition. In addition, the marble and tile in the building are original to the property. Triple crown moldings in the lobby were uncovered and refinished, and picture rails and baseboards in rooms are all original.
“So both inside your room and outside your room, there’s a little bit of history everywhere you go in here,” Highberg said.
The Galleria Park has all the original marble work in the staircase from the lobby to the eighth floor, Lim said. The glass ceilings in the property are original from 1911. In addition, the guestrooms are equipped with the building’s original steam heat.
Perhaps Lim’s favorite aspect of the hotel’s design is the “Legacy Room,” a makeshift museum converted from a 100-square-foot room that housed an ice machine. The garage at the hotel used to be the site of the Hotel Sutter’s speakeasy bar, and the original flooring was kept intact. The design team wanted to find a way to replicate the speakeasy.
“So the ice machine broke … and I had this idea that instead of purchasing another ice machine, why not create something more fun,” Lim said. “And that’s when the idea clicked and connected with the original thought of bringing back that speakeasy feeling to the hotel.”
Lim went to the library and researched, as well as acquired photos and mementos from the “Sutter Hotel days” that could be displayed in the Legacy Room. During the recent renovation, the contractor found newspapers and magazines within the walls of the hotel, and those are displayed in the Legacy Room as well.
Brand vs. boutique design
As a Marriott-branded property, designers for the Residence Inn had to work within brand standards while also keeping the historical integrity of the property alive. While designers said Marriott International made the process fairly simple, some challenges did arise.
“Marriott was very flexible and willing to work with us,” said Katrina Stoffel, the interior designer on the Residence Inn project from Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture. “We tried to meet in the middle as much as possible.”
Marriott’s design package is very contemporary, she said, so it looked out of place in the hotel’s historic design.
However, Stoffel said it was important the property be easily recognizable as a Residence Inn by Marriott because that’s what drives a lot of repeat guests. Therefore, Marriott required such elements as the font on the signage to comply with its standards. But there was also some leeway, such as the subdued color palette the designers used versus the brighter colors Marriott wanted.
“(Marriott) let us change the colors of the signage so it melded better with the historic elements in the corridors,” Stoffel said.
Also, the property didn’t have a pool, Highberg and Stoffel said, so Marriott allowed a game room instead, something Stoffel said is unusual for a Residence Inn.
“Flag hotels have very restrictive buyer and safety standards,” Stoffel said, “so that was probably the biggest challenge with this project … meeting all of their standards.”
Lim said it is less difficult to design a boutique hotel such as the Galleria Park because there is more freedom in the design.
“I think you can get more creative in renovating or designing a hotel,” he said. Joie de Vivre executives listed five adjectives—engaging, classy, savvy, warm and glamorous—to describe and guide the hotel’s design.
“There’s no template that’s being given to the project manager or designer when we’re doing renovations,” Lim said.
Investing in history
Renovating a property to restore or preserve history doesn’t necessarily cost more than a standard renovation, said Laura Alley, director of business development and art acquisition on the Residence Inn project from Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture.
“We cannot build (structures) the way they were built in the past, so a lot of folks when they try to propose, ‘Let’s just tear it down because it costs more to restore,’ the truth is that we have found often that it is not the truth at all. In fact, you get something for the next 150 to 200 years, whereas a new structure, especially built in fast and cheap standards, will be derelict in about 50 years,” Alley said.
“It does not cost more to the client, especially when you take advantage of the tax credits,” Stoffel added, referring to tax increment financing used to help finance the cost of making improvements in an area, such as replacing or rehabilitating dilapidated buildings.
“(Tax credits) are almost 30 cents on a dollar, so it’s a huge savings,” Alley said.
“Guests also want to experience a place; they don’t necessarily just want to stay somewhere,” Highberg said. “This building helps us be able to tell a story.”
Lim said investing in a historic hotel can open up opportunities to charge higher room rates.
“If you’re really amplifying the value of the hotel, I think definitely you can charge a little bit more because it’s something you’re offering special to a certain target of audience,” he said. “That’s why people invest in historical hotels, because they know there are people staying at their properties that are willing to pay a higher rate to experience history.”
“I want to stay in a cool little boutique hotel in the heart of a corridor that has a story to it,” Stoffel said. “You want to be somewhere that’s hip and fun, so we think absolutely it’s going to have a greater return on investment for the investor.”