Hyatt Regency New Orleans, located at 601 Loyola Ave in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 32-story, 361-foot (110 m)-tall hotel. It has 1,193 guest rooms, including 95 suites. It is part of a complex of connected buildings, which includes the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, 1250 Poydras Plaza, Entergy Tower, and the Benson Tower. Originally opened in 1976, it was designed by Welton Becket and Associates.
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Hurricane Katrina damage
The structure received heavy damage during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and remained closed for six years afterwards. The previous hotel owners, Chicago-based Strategic Hotels and Resorts Inc., along with other investors announced in early 2006 a plan to redevelop the area around the Superdome (including the adjacent hotel) into a performance art park called the "National Jazz Center". The plan, designed in concept by Pritzker Award-winning architect Thom Mayne, was later abandoned.
Poydras Properties Hotel Holdings acquired the Hyatt from Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. for $32 million in 2007.
On February 20, 2009, the State Bond Commission approved $225 million in special low-cost bonds to help renovate the Hyatt Regency.
Hyatt issued a statement in August 2010 announcing a redevelopment effort carrying a price tag of $275 million. The redesign of the 32-story building, just next door to the Louisiana Superdome, called for 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of meeting and exhibition space, two restaurants, two bars, and a coffee bar. The hotel reopened on October 19, 2011.
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Grand reopening
The hotel's reopening in October 2011 revealed several major changes to its interior that impact the property's positioning within the city of New Orleans and strategic technological additions designed to improve the experience for travelers to the city's Central Business District.
The storm-battered area around the newly rebranded Mercedes-Benz Superdome experienced major construction, renovation, and overall economic changes following the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, which continued to be supported by the rebuilt Hyatt Regency. The Central Business District's post-disaster development has yielded several important new hubs, including Champions Square, the sports district and the currently under-construction Biotech District. The Hyatt will anchor these new urban developments by providing nearly 2,000 guest rooms and 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2) of cutting-edge convention space to the influx of large groups and travelers. The entrance to the Hyatt Regency also faces the newly constructed Loyola Streetcar line, which provides a quick and inexpensive way for visitors to the CBD to access the cultural activity in the French Quarter.
New features
The property's renovation also created possibilities for expansion, which materialized in the form of a 50,000 square foot exhibit hall, intriguingly constructed by re-purposing the hotel's old port-cochere, or motor lobby. The new space, according to General Manager Michael Smith, is designed to draw small and medium-sized conferences to the city and hotel. The nearby Morial Convention Center is the main convention area in the New Orleans, but the Hyatt's new event space aims to supplement the city's continual re-growth by attracting valuable group business instead of competing with the convention center for large events.
The Hyatt Regency is also the first building in the state of Louisiana to incorporate Schindler Elevator Corporation's award-winning PORT (Personal Occupant Requirement Terminal) to transport guests quickly and efficiently to the hotel's 1,193 guest rooms on its 32 floors. The PORT system operates using each guest's room card which is uniquely programmed upon check-in to take them to their floor when the card is swiped at one of the futuristic touch screen terminals strategically placed around the building at the elevator banks.
Recognition
The Hyatt Regency New Orleans was also distinguished by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Hotel Renovations in 2012, due to several notable features, such as the in-house restaurant Borgne run by celebrity chef John Besh, Hyatt's new Respire hypo-allergenic program, and Schindler's new state-of-the-art PORT elevator system.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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