UNION MARKET HOTEL RELAUNCHES: Union Market Hotel has relaunched in Washington, D.C. and opened with a new name and rooftop restaurant, which pays homage to the property’s history. The hotel traces its roots to the 1930s when it housed the Bolgiano Seed Co. The factory has been transformed into a boutique hotel in Union Market District’s culinary and cultural community. The design-centric hotel offers 106 rooms with a foliage-rich industrial design and has opened the new Treehouse Rooftop Lounge on the fifth floor. The hotel also has a lobby lounge and meeting spaces. TPG Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel through its independent, boutique and soft-branded unit, The Intera Collection. TPG Hotels’ portfolio includes more than 65,000 rooms across 42 states.
CONRAD OPENS IN ORLANDO, FLA.: Hilton has expanded its luxury footprint and debuted its Conrad Hotels & Resorts brand in Orlando, Fla., with the opening of Conrad Orlando. This also marks the brand’s second hotel in the Sunshine State. Located within Evermore Orlando Resort’s 1,100-acre property, Conrad Orlando offers 433 rooms (including 61 suites), five dining venues, a spa and a water garden. The hotel also features an eight-acre crystalline lagoon and pool complex, along with over 65,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. Florida has been a priority market for Hilton, with more than 450 properties under 15 brands across the state. Conrad’s portfolio includes more than 40 hotels spread over five continents.
JW MARRIOTT SIGNS IN INDIA: Gujarat JHM Hotels (GJHM), owned by the Rama family, has teamed up with U.S.-based Auro Hotels and signed a hotel management agreement with Marriott International to open the JW Marriott brand to Surat, Gujarat. The JW Marriott Surat Resort & Spa will be GJHM’s third Marriott International hotel in Surat. The hotel is expected to feature more than 300 rooms and villas, four dining venues, a full-service JW Lounge, an outdoor pool, a fitness center, a kid’s club and a spa. The urban resort will also have 10,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space. The new hotel will be located at the 115-acre Earthspace campus, which houses the Auro University, the Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center and the Courtyard by Marriott Surat.
HIGHGATE GROWS LUXURY LIFESTYLE COLLECTION:Â Highgate has expanded its luxury lifestyle portfolio with five additions. The hospitality management company has assumed management of The Joule in Dallas and Le Meridien Central Park in New York City and will be managing the upcoming Amrit Ocean Resort in Singer Island, Monterey Beach Hotel and the redevelopment of the Bellevue Hotel Philadelphia, which will all open later this year. With these additions, Highgate now operates more than 8,100 keys in the premier category and has an additional 1,500 keys under development.
CONSTRUCTION FINANCING FOR DUAL-BRANDED BOISE HOTEL: JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has arranged construction financing for the AC Hotel/Element by Westin in Boise, Idaho. JLL represented the borrower to secure the conventional loan through a national bank. The dual-branded 15-story hotel features 296 rooms. The AC Hotel has 175 rooms, while the Element by Westin has 121 rooms. Located in downtown Boise, the hotel includes a rooftop bar and a restaurant with views of the city’s skyline. JLL said it had conducted a marketing effort of recourse and non-recourse lenders, which resulted in 10 quotes and brought in a lender that was earlier declined. This eventually resulted in pricing inside the broader market, JLL said in a release.