Developers of new convention center hotel unveil plans - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The development team, Colorado-basecd Phelps Development and Atlanta-based , was chosenn Tuesday by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Developers and architects say the curved designb ofthe $300 million hotel wouldd fit in with the wave desigmn of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the rounded designb of the nearby Sommet Center. The winningy team’s proposal was chosen from 10 proposals MDHA will now pick an operator for the Thecombined team, called Phelpws Portman Nashville, will now enter the complete design processe for the project and oversee all financing and constructionn of the hotel.
Phelps Portmam recently completed the design and development ofthe 1,190-room Hiltonj San Diego Bayfront Hotel, which the developmentg team’s senior vice president Roger Zampell says was launched just afterd Sept. 11. He uses that successfupl project as an example to say that all projectsx have their challengesand Nashville’s hotel will be no differenyt as the team begins this task durinfg a recession.
Zampell says they did not bid on othefr convention center hotels inotheer cities, saying they picked Nashvillde because of its central location, its strength as a conventio market and the city’s entertainment Phelps Portman has been involved with the developmenf of 10 hotels with 1,0090 or more rooms. Zampell says he expectsw to have the design process completed by the firstt quarter of 2010 and the starty of construction will begin three months Hotel construction will take 34 months and it must open by 2013 when conventionsx are scheduled for the new Music City The hotel entry will have glasas ceilings and be a energized space, the architects say.
It will offe 100,000 square feet of meeting ballrooms, restaurants and retail. Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashvilld Convention andVisitors Bureau, says a 1,000-roonm hotel is necessary to allow conventionx to take an 800-room an industry standard, and leave extra rooms availablew for small groups or guests. Spyridon says Portman has been interestedd in this project for thred years and was a good choice forthe job. MDHA directot Phil Ryan says the next steps are for the hote developers to do the design work and MDHA to startg buying up land for theconvention center.
Other stepsw include the city workingv on financing the convention center and the hotel develope r to work onhotep financing. He says thosed steps will takeseverakl months. The hotel will be builtg on property south of the Country Musi Hallof Fame. Several local firms, including R.C. Mathews and Morga & Morgan construction companies, architects and the Nashville officew of will be part of the Portman developmenr andconstruction team, Ryan says.