<B>Detroit Revitalizes</B>
By Robert Selwitz
Plans for new and renovated hotels, and a spate of new and unique meeting venues are highlights of metropolitan Detroit's steady urban revival.
For example, Westin Hotels & Resorts plan to build an $80 million, 404-room hotel at Detroit Metropolitan Airport's new Midfield Terminal. While the terminal is scheduled to open in late 2001, the property will debut in 2002. Current plans envision a nine-story hotel offering an upscale restaurant, fitness facility, conference center, 17 meeting/boardrooms, a 7,200-sq.-ft. ballroom, pool and spa. The project will join the 160-room Detroit Airport Marriott, located next to the Davey Terminal.
Another Marriott recently opened in Pontiac. The $44 million 290-room Marriott at Centerpoint is a new meeting venue with its 15,000 square feet of function area, and 13 private meeting and banquet rooms.
Also, now under construction is a new $35 million, 248-room Embassy Suites in Auburn Hills. When it opens next fall, the seven-story site will offer banquet space, a large atrium, indoor pool, fitness room, restaurant and two-room bedroom suites complete with kitchen facilities.
In Dearborn, The Hyatt Regency recently completed a $22 million renovation that impacted 756 guest rooms, hospitality suites, hotel entry, lobby, public areas, conference rooms, ballroom, restaurants and site work.
And in the heart of downtown, the 1,300-room Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center--the city's largest lodging choice--has wrapped up renovations on its fifth-floor meeting rooms as well as in 312 guest rooms.
Detroit also is growing its number of viable meeting spaces as part of a continuing $120 million renovation of the city. Typical of recent action was the conversion of a former furniture showroom and warehouse into the Furniture Factory, a 99-seat, 15,000-sq.-ft. event venue. This project is part of a five-year expansion of Detroit's entertainment options, including the addition of the Detroit Opera House, reopening of the Gem and Century theaters and a $6 million renovation of Music Hall.
Also, Orchestra Hall, home to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, will begin work in the spring on a $60 million expansion, including a 570-seat recital hall, atrium lobby, library, donor lounge and recording suite. The project is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003.
Indeed, according to Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Renee Monforton, Detroit offers a surprisingly large choice of performance spaces, including 15,000 live theatre seats, second, she said, only to New York City's Broadway. And, quite close by, Detroit's two new downtown stadiums offer function space.
Even though the Tigers didn't fare particularly well last season, its Comerica Park home was a huge hit. Like virtually adjacent Ford Field--the new home (opening for the 2002 season) of the NFL Detroit Lions--Comerica Park offers much more than just outdoor games.
"Comerica has, and Ford will have, unique sports-related function space," Monforton said. "During its debut year, a number of business functions were held in special clubs and suites within the Tigers' ballpark. Groups definitely like this very special setting."
Another noteworthy Detroit site is the former seminary, which was transformed into the just-opened St. John's Golf & Conference Center. Closed for the past dozen years, the location now offers two ballrooms with 25-ft. ceilings and hand-painted inlays, dramatic lighting, soaring windows and a capacity for 300 attendees. There's also direct exterior access that facilitates the setup of large product displays. Its newly constructed glass atrium is reminiscent of New York's Tavern On The Green, with a capacity of 600 attendees. The converted religious structure also features lush exterior gardens and gazebos and a 27-hole golf course.