DT: Clarion Hotel/Hotel Indigo/Embassy Suites
#1
Posted 17 November 2005 - 05:52 AM
#2
Posted 17 November 2005 - 07:01 AM
#3
Posted 17 November 2005 - 07:06 AM
#4
Posted 17 November 2005 - 08:43 AM
#5
Posted 17 November 2005 - 10:18 AM
#6
Posted 18 November 2005 - 06:52 AM
#7
Posted 18 November 2005 - 05:17 PM
I didn't realize the Clarion was such a piece of junk - hadn't heard anything about it.
Yes - we absolutely need a good, refined (don't care if its contemporary or classical in design), but very tasteful hotel. The Worthington is okay, the Ashton means well but misses on the interior design (looks as though the interior taste found in Fort Worth, Texas magazine were applied to the hotel interior - very busy and ornate yet unrefined)
#8
Posted 19 November 2005 - 08:14 PM
#9
Posted 21 November 2005 - 10:48 PM
#10
Posted 21 November 2005 - 11:00 PM
www.iheartfw.com
#11
Posted 11 December 2005 - 03:43 PM
For more information, go to my Dallas Architecture site:
http://www.dallasarc...fo/plazahtl.htm
#12
Posted 16 February 2006 - 07:41 PM
If the ceilings are low, that usually means the structure is low. If the floor to floor heights are low, there is not much that can be done about it. The conversion will be an improvement for the property, so that is good.
$150 per night: is this going to be four-star? I would expect nice accommodations but would not hold it up to five star standards. If the estimated cost of renovation is $1.2MM, most of that money will likely be spent on interior re-design and furnishings.
Here’s some more details regarding this project:
http://www.hotel-onl...orthIndigo.html
#13
Posted 11 March 2006 - 11:25 AM
I always thought the owners of the Courtyard/Blackstone Hotel should take over the building, tear it down, and merge that lot with the Blackstone building, perhaps building a parking garage, and a nice park between the two buildings for hotel guests. Even when the Blackstone was still vacant, I thought the Days Inn at that time should be torn down and the property incorperated to restoration of the Blackstone.
If the ceilings are low, that usually means the structure is low. If the floor to floor heights are low, there is not much that can be done about it. The conversion will be an improvement for the property, so that is good.
$150 per night: is this going to be four-star? I would expect nice accommodations but would not hold it up to five star standards. If the estimated cost of renovation is $1.2MM, most of that money will likely be spent on interior re-design and furnishings.
Here’s some more details regarding this project:
http://www.hotel-onl...orthIndigo.html
#14
Posted 12 March 2006 - 02:10 PM
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the exterior will be changed, but no renderings are available right now.
A rendering will be availible as soon as I draw one up here...can't pass along any specific info (professional protocol), but the exterior will be changing, and my illustration for new design should go public very soon...
#16
Posted 28 March 2006 - 05:45 PM
#17
Posted 28 March 2006 - 05:53 PM
#18
Posted 28 March 2006 - 06:32 PM
I agree, it looks no different.
A couple things we should keep in mind:
A ) Besides us architecture enthusiasts, the only people who look UP at buildings in an urban setting are tourists. Street level is where the action is, and unfortunately I wasn't given the opportunity to represent that (and BTW, I just draw these, not design them). There's plenty of new and nice stuff that will be going on the facade down there, along with paying customers and $ coming into our wonderful city when it's all said and done.
B ) Construction is the THE most wasteful and poluting industry on this planet (funny I should admit to that sine it's my livelyhood), and being able to update a building with minimal waste and pollution should ALWAYS be applauded.
Besdies all that, this is just a sneak peak (as I said), and odds are it'll look completely different in the end
#19
Posted 29 March 2006 - 07:37 AM
Color is better
#20
Posted 29 March 2006 - 09:25 AM
Hmmm. Wonderin what they will be bringing our way?
www.iheartfw.com
#21
Posted 29 March 2006 - 09:57 AM
I've heard from a Chicago res that the Hotel Indigo over there is a piece of you know what, let's just say not favorable. And it is not even IN the city of Chicago.
Hmmm. Wonderin what they will be bringing our way?
It'll still be an improvement.
#22
Posted 24 June 2006 - 12:07 PM
Article: http://www.dfw.com/m...ss/14894297.htm
#23
Posted 24 June 2006 - 02:08 PM
There's an article in today's S-T stating that the Clarion is no longer being converted into a Hotel Indigo and a Clarion Collection. The entire project will now be an Embassy Suites.
Not quite sure why, but I think this is probably a much better move for the developer of this project. Splitting the building into two separate hotels just didn't seem to make sense to me, and there are probably other buildings, smaller and with more "charm", more suited to being a "boutique hotel". Downtown needs an Embassy Suites, or one of it's look-alike competitors, to round out the room selection options for visitors, but they will need some sort of transportation scheme since they are several blocks from the Convention Center. Maybe the owner would be willing to stick his neck out and advocate for (and help back) a tracked trolley running from CC to SS in a circular route using vintage cars as a starter for a future expanded system.
#24
Posted 24 June 2006 - 07:29 PM
Besides, THERE ARE PLENTY OF EATERIES AND RETAILERS CLOSE BY THE FWCC TO STOP ON IN.
Right CB1?
A prime example, MEMPHIS. Now that is a great town and very similiar to what FW brings and holds. They have that exact system you speak of and it only seperates parts of DTM from the BIG Beale St. scene. though it does help the mid range lodger to stay a bit further form the action on the cheap, it does allow them to skip through most of the close by establishments. So that exact scenario could be played out with the FWCC area and SS.
www.iheartfw.com
#25
Posted 25 June 2006 - 12:50 PM
There's an article in today's S-T stating that the Clarion is no longer being converted into a Hotel Indigo and a Clarion Collection. The entire project will now be an Embassy Suites.
Article: http://www.dfw.com/m...ss/14894297.htm
I just seen on CNN thier is a trend for basic hotels. Most people just want to sleep and shower. Why spend big bucks if your out on business or on vacation locked up in your hotel room?
#27
Posted 26 June 2006 - 11:33 AM
I agree, it looks no different.
B ) Construction is the THE most wasteful and poluting industry on this planet (funny I should admit to that sine it's my livelyhood), and being able to update a building with minimal waste and pollution should ALWAYS be applauded.
Construction? I thought the 'refining of oil and the manufacture of gasoline, plastics and chemicals is the most polluting industry on the face of the earth.'
You paint a dark picture of the construction industry. The cost of fuel and metal is so high now that most contractors and manufacturers take waste very seriously, especially on big projects where a cost avoidance can be realized by implementing a waste reduction program.
#28
Posted 26 June 2006 - 03:15 PM
You paint a dark picture of the construction industry. The cost of fuel and metal is so high now that most contractors and manufacturers take waste very seriously, especially on big projects where a cost avoidance can be realized by implementing a waste reduction program.
That's why we have organizations like the USGBC that are growing in numbers by leaps and bounds, and the foremost buzzword in the AEC sector is "sustainibility." I'm really surprised that there isn't more mention of this and the ethics of architecture on this forum.
Consider how much petroleum (as you mentioned) has to be used to make all the construction material including steel (a very HIGH energy product), plastics (as also you mentioned), concrete (cooking chalk into lime is another extremely high energy process), etc. Have any idea how much plastic goes into a building when it's all said and done? A lot. Consider how much plastic is used to protect a pane of glass, stripped off, and then tossed into a landfill upon installation...oh, and did I mention it requires a lot of energy to melt down glass? How much petroleum is used to ship the materials (very HEAVY, DENSE materials, mind you), hoist them in place, and get all the workers to the jobsite?
A couple things to check out: USGBC
LEED Program
Eco-Structure Magazine
One last little thing to consider: How much waste is sitting at 200 W 7th Street? How many tons of waste material (that will likely NOT be recycled) do you think that is? And that's a really obvious one - now consider the sum of all the little demolition jobs that happen every day, mostly unnoticed by us. I guarantee you somwhere, at any given moment during the daylight hours, someone is tearing down some part of a structure in our city so it can be hauled off to a dump.
One last little note: I'm not trying to be alarmist or scare anyone (that wouldn't be a skillful means of approaching such a serious issue). I'm just trying to point out what is, and what most people don't stop to condsider. Also consider what I'm saying in light of the fact that construction puts food on my table.
#29
Posted 26 June 2006 - 11:06 PM
Excellent links, thanks FWI.
Your point about construction demolition waste rings a bell, loudly. I remember reading a serious study disguised as a very readable paperback several years ago. The author was a very famous and respected Maya archaeologist (he studied the Mayas, wasn't one himself) who taught students excavation techniques by having them dig through landfills and using the "artifacts" recovered to help "reconstruct" the lives of the people who tossed the stuff. In the course of doing this exercise he realized that there was a lot to seriously learn about landfills, and one of the conclusions was that some huge percentage of what was in the fill was construction debris. The book is titled "Rubbish", and the author is named Rathje I believe. The term "garbology" was coined by the study described within.
#30
Posted 27 June 2006 - 06:53 AM
#31
Posted 27 June 2006 - 12:12 PM
I thought of one other good link....Interface Carpet has made it their mission to set an example to competitiors and other industries.
FWI,
I agree…you make many good points. Although, it’s easy to blame the construction industry because of its visibility to the general public few industries go without blame….hotels, sporting venues, corporations, manufactures, retailers, highways, homeowners. My point is that the construction industry takes the blame because it acts as the agent of change when we should look at owners/end-users and ask if they are aware of how their buildings are being built or products being made.
Commercial construction takes place in large efforts which supports your points well….our own consumption of these materials and methods in smaller bits and pieces as individual consumers occurs at a buzzing less-visible pace and has an equally detrimental impact, in my opinion.
#32
Posted 27 June 2006 - 02:30 PM
Although, it’s easy to blame the construction industry because of its visibility to the general public few industries go without blame….hotels, sporting venues, corporations, manufactures, retailers, highways, homeowners. My point is that the construction industry takes the blame because it acts as the agent of change when we should look at owners/end-users and ask if they are aware of how their buildings are being built or products being made.
Nitixope, understand that I'm not trying to make a malicious indictment here - I'm not saying any ONE industry is "to blame" for some explicit charge. I understand that contractors (for the most part) are just doing their job, and whatever the end user wants is what gets built (provided they have a realistic budget). I'm not trying to bad mouth anyone in the building industry here, saying "you filthy polluters should really get your act together, beacuse you alone, Mr. Builder, are ruining our environment."
I am saying that construction in general is the nexus where many of our most energy-intensive, volume-waste producing, ground -water poluting industries come together in a very "saturated" way, so to speak. I don't think it's something we should becessarily get up in arms about on either side, but certainly it warrants much attention and a vast amount of improvement if we intend to keep going this way. And, yes we should also keep an eye on other consumer behavior as well.
At the time I toured the new Radio Shack headquarters, it was pending LEED certification. Right now I just happen to be designing a business card for contractor in Atlanta, who IS taking a moral standing, saying "I want to be an advocate of sustainible building." The design of the card obviously focuses on relating building to environmental conscientiousness. I'm pointing all this out just to let you know, this is a real issue that's being dealt with on an expanding level, and needs to be dealt with further. And all sides need to be educated. The main focus of this forum is architecure afterall.
#33
Posted 27 June 2006 - 03:09 PM
Somebody has to pay sometime. Would make for a great story and using the FW FORUM as a GREAT LEAD.
www.iheartfw.com
#34
Posted 27 June 2006 - 11:32 PM
#35
Posted 11 July 2006 - 08:08 PM
By the end of this year, downtown Fort Worth will have an Embassy Suites Hotel to add to its up-and-coming hospitality scene. On June 23, Fort Worth-based Pearl Real Estate, a hotel development and management company, officially announced in a release that the hotel, a member of the Hilton Family of Hotels, will be located at 600 Commerce St., across from Bass Performance Hall.
Demolition work has begun for the suites, which will be Pearl Real Estate’s second Embassy Suites property in Texas. Discussions were in the works for the location to be a split Clarion Boutique hotel and Hotel Indigo, but in January, Embassy Suites entered into negotiations for the property, said Kenneth Schell, general manager of the hotel.
Each of the 256 suites in the hotel will have two rooms and amenities that include daily complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast, daily complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, a 6,000-square-foot conference center, and an upscale martini bar and restaurant. Schell said the amenities and location will attract a corporate clientele and also cater to tourists.
“It appeals to so many guests – I think the Embassy just deserves a beautiful property,” he said.
#36
Posted 04 August 2006 - 02:16 PM
#37
Posted 04 August 2006 - 03:07 PM
#38
Posted 12 September 2006 - 02:54 PM
#39
Posted 02 November 2006 - 09:49 AM
http://embassysuites...ctyhocn=FTWESES
It says there accepting reservations for May 2007 and beyond.
#40
Posted 02 November 2006 - 03:34 PM
#41
Posted 02 November 2006 - 04:12 PM
#42
Posted 15 March 2007 - 11:25 AM
By DAVID WETHE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
The first phase of a hotel renaissance that will soon double the downtown Fort Worth room supply is set to hit in about two weeks.
Workers at Embassy Suites Fort Worth are putting the final touches on the futuristic lobby, which will feature a 12-foot slate water wall, pods instead of the traditional front desk, an upscale martini bar and a marketplace serving Starbucks coffee and Cheesecake Factory desserts.
Upstairs, almost all 156 suites have been renovated. Every two individual rooms of the former Clarion Inn at Fifth and Commerce streets have been made into single suites with a living room, bedroom and a small wet bar. The living rooms and bedrooms have their own windows and 32-inch LCD televisions. The room rates will range from $235 to $275 per night.
Embassy Suites' opening is just the start of it all.
The tight market in downtown offers 1,040 rooms in four hotels. But you can add 1,194 new or renovated rooms to that total over the next 20 months as Embassy Suites, Sheraton and Omni open their doors.
The Sheraton is expected to offer 434 rooms by late winter or early 2008, said Guneet Bajwa, executive vice president of Presidio Hotel Group, one of the hotel's investors.
The twin-tower hotel, which opened in 1974 as a Hilton but most recently was the Fort Worth Plaza Hotel, is at 1601 Commerce St., across from the newly reopened Fort Worth Water Gardens.
Between the Sheraton and the Embassy is the new Omni Fort Worth.
Right now it's little more than a big hole in the ground on Houston Street across from the Fort Worth Convention Center. But by November 2008, it's expected to hold 604 guest rooms and 97 condominiums. That would make Omni the largest hotel in Cowtown, eclipsing the Renaissance Worthington Hotel's 504 rooms.
But Irving-based Omni Hotels is not sitting around and waiting.
The company recently nabbed Larry Auth from the Renaissance Worthington and made him the new hotel's director of sales and marketing. Omni also hired Ed Netzhammer, a 20-year industry veteran, to be general manager of the hotel and regional vice president of the company's hotel brand.
Some hotel executives and industry experts have expressed concern about the large number of rooms being added, but no one doubts that Fort Worth needs more rooms.
Omni executives have said they expect their convention center headquarters hotel to bring more business to the entire market. And they're already bringing in business for down the road. The Republican Party of Texas plans to come to town in 2012 and 2014.
Embassy Suites is also booking future business, with 25,000 room nights reserved through 2009, said Pritesh Patel, chief executive of the hotel's Fort Worth-based owner, Pearl Real Estate.
Patel said Embassy Suites is targeting more small- and medium-size groups.
"We're positioning this hotel as more of a boutique, not your typical big-box hotel," he said.
The $6.5 million in renovations at Embassy Suites should wrap up just in time for a couple of key events in May: the PGA Tour golf tournament at the Colonial Country Club and the three-week Fort Worth Opera Festival at Bass Hall.
Patel said he hopes that the Omni and the Sheraton are able to fill much of the void that will come when their rooms soon join the market.
"If they don't, then we will have some serious issues to be nervous about -- us and everybody else," he said. "But I think they will. Omni's a great outfit."
#43
Posted 29 April 2007 - 11:16 AM
Embassy Suites checks in
Embassy Suites Hotel has checked in to Fort Worth’s growing downtown hospitality scene: its doors officially open this week. The property, a member of the Hilton Family of Hotels, is the second Embassy Suites property in Texas for Fort Worth-based Pearl Real Estate, a hotel development and management company.
The new property features 256 two-room suites, more than 6,000 square feet of event function space and a sixth-floor atrium area. Amenities include daily complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, an upscale martini bar and the Market Street Café.
Located in the downtown entertainment district at 600 Commerce St., the hotel is adjacent to Bass Performance Hall and Sundance Square and is within walking distance of the entire central business district.
#44
Posted 01 May 2007 - 09:09 AM
#45
Posted 01 May 2007 - 01:20 PM
#47
Posted 01 May 2007 - 02:14 PM
http://embassysuites...B3489A4F8.etc22
#48
Posted 01 May 2007 - 02:16 PM
It still looks dull as dishwater.
I disagree - I think it looks a lot better. The new base alone is a great addition.
It's definitely an improvement from before, but I still think its pretty dull. I was hoping more was going to be done with the facade and I'm not blown away with the signage either. One a scale from 1-10, I give it a solid 4. Hopefully, the interior will be much more impressive.
#50
Posted 02 May 2007 - 08:25 AM
It still looks dull as dishwater.
Sorry for the angle and quality of the pic.It was taken through the sunroof of my car.
The only difference I saw about the building was the sign.And maybe the curtains.
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