New Hotel David Whitney

[Gistok]

The Roxbury Group, owners of the David Whitney Building, have converted the former Aloft Hotel into the HOTEL DAVID WHITNEY... a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel.

They converted 24 of the 104 rental apartments into hotel suites, and now the building has 160 hotel rooms and 80 apartments.

Owners spend $20M+ to take David Whitney Building in Detroit to next level [[msn.com)

[Zacha341]

Thanks for this info! Looks so cool and cozy with all the dark wood and decor. I'd love the spend a week there!

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Interesting that they’ve spent a considerable amount on a building that was already nicely renovated.

[401don]

Interesting that they’ve spent a considerable amount on a building that was already nicely renovated.

This is a pretty straight forward business decision if the apts. weren't getting the rents they wanted and they believe revenue will increase substantially by converting them to hotel suites.

[renf]

I enjoyed staying there the last time I attended a Stones concert
at Comerica. I am sorry the Stones are not coming to Motown on
their tour this summer.

[stasu1213]

Thanks for this info! Looks so cool and cozy with all the dark wood and decor. I'd love the spend a week there!

Check out the small library that's off the lobby

[RAPLAS]

Hotel’s also got rebranded to a higher level Marriott brand [[from “ALoft” to “Autograph Collection”) which they can charge more.

[Gistok]

^Exactly... I would like to one day see the entire building converted to hotel use... that would be about 250 rooms. This hotel has by far the fanciest lobby in the city... granted that was never its' intended purpose, but it would be nice for the city to have at least one "wow" hotel... since the Book Cadillac did a "tame restoration", cutting corners on the "wow" factor.

Maybe now that they are upgrading, they might finally offer room service.

[Zacha341]

Yes, very nice. So much detailing. Room service and I'm there!

Check out the small library that's off the lobby

[Satiricalivory]

IDK why they didn't make the whole thing hotel since downtown very much needs the rooms. Great upgrade though, looks WAY classier and fitting for a historic building. When Edition opens at the Hudson site that'll be the city's "wow" hotel.

[Satiricalivory]

Interesting that they’ve spent a considerable amount on a building that was already nicely renovated.

The rooms got a very basic bare bones renovation when it opened in 2014. It looked cheap. Hotels generally have to be updated every ten years or so anyway.

[Richard]

IDK why they didn't make the whole thing hotel since downtown very much needs the rooms. Great upgrade though, looks WAY classier and fitting for a historic building. When Edition opens at the Hudson site that'll be the city's "wow" hotel.

almost 6000 rooms in the city,45,000 in the metro.

Miami close to 60,000 Sin city close to 180,000.

But those are heavy tourist cities.

[mikeg19]

What is the magic number for increased convention sizes being lured to Detroit? Aside from an attached hotel which is finally in the works, would 10K in downtown and 50K metro get that there? You'd think aside from the most massive of conventions, at those numbers Detroit could probably bid on 80-90% of them.

[Richard]

Cities like Miami,Vegas,Orlando have higher room rates because they are heavy tourist destinations,conventions add to the revenue base and are a sort of the carrot on the stick.

Most mid size cities have convention centers but they are directly connected to the tourist industry because you have to look at what would compel a company to hold a convention in your city.

Conventions are pretty much an excuse to mix business with some vacation time in a different setting while giving the employees an experience outside of their normal daily lives.

I do not think there is a magic number,it’s a formula of the more you are a destination,the more tourists will come and the more conventions that you will draw and the more rooms you will need to accommodate.

If not you could put a convention center in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa.

I did not check there locally but most touristy places the convention centers and tourist campaigns work hand in hand,with the bed tax as a funding tool.

If you were a CEO of a company what would compell you to have You convention in Detroit where outside of the convention stuff your employees can get out to enjoy time outside of the daily grind and with a positive experience.

I have never thought Detroit was any different then places like NYC,Miami,Orlando etc.

It’s a city that helped shape the world and has a worldwide name recognition already,if you can figure out how to capitalize on that the sky is the limit,it’s like all the pieces to the puzzle are there already,something not many cities have,if you could pick them all up and assemble them into the bigger picture the revenue generated would change the city.

Some cities are known for a specific thing,when you look at Detroit it impacted people’s lives in many different ways,automobiles,music,appliances etc there was a little piece of Detroit in the majority of every households in the world,not just the city state and country,the world.

[Sthoms3355]

Look at Indianapolis. They have 7,100 rooms in which almost half of them are very close or even tunnel attached to their convention center. Their convention center is only ranked 25th in size as compared to Huntingon Place which is ranked 9th [[depending how you rank them). Indianapolis is no magical city and definitely the weather isn't much better than Detroit, but they have a much, much more vibrant convention schedule plus they cleanup with hosting sporting events [[Big 10 basketball and football championship plus many more. See here: Event History | Indiana Sports Corp. Detroit will NEVER be Orlando, LV, or even Chicago for convention destinations, but we should compete if NOT overtake Indianapolis. Just need another 2-6 [[400-800 room) hotels near Huntington Place

[canuck]

Look at Indianapolis. They have 7,100 rooms in which almost half of them are very close or even tunnel attached to their convention center. Their convention center is only ranked 25th in size as compared to Huntingon Place which is ranked 9th [[depending how you rank them). Indianapolis is no magical city and definitely the weather isn't much better than Detroit, but they have a much, much more vibrant convention schedule plus they cleanup with hosting sporting events [[Big 10 basketball and football championship plus many more. See here: Event History | Indiana Sports Corp. Detroit will NEVER be Orlando, LV, or even Chicago for convention destinations, but we should compete if NOT overtake Indianapolis. Just need another 2-6 [[400-800 room) hotels near Huntington Place

The trend in Montreal in the past ten years is a bigger offer from midsize and boutique hotels. The percentage of small vs big has really gone up dramatically, and the offer is more varied. The addition to Detroit’s offer by pushing renovation of some office buildings in the CBD would help repurpose some of the glut in the office market. Every city in the world has at least partial motion towards transforming office to hotel/apartment.

There was a rumour this week that CN might move their HQ to National Bank’s old HQ since they moved into a new skyscraper last year. CN’s HQ wouldn’t be class A anymore, so the rumour mill pointed to a probable conversion to condos if it happens. Since Covid, WFH means companies need less space, but value class A above all else as a strategy to attract office workers.