Building Frenzy Greets Brimming Room Occupancies

<H1>Building Frenzy Greets Brimming Room Occupancies</H1>By Judy Jacobs

<I>Seattle</I> - A rash of new downtown developments and renovations is expected to give the city's hotel room inventory, entertainment facilities and conference capabilities a much-needed boost.

With occupancies running in the high 70s (1995 saw 78.5 percent occupancy), rates rising 8 percent or more plus diminishing room supply this year, Seattle's two newest downtown properties-the Paramount Hotel and Cavanaugh's Inn on Fifth Avenue-should provide a welcome addition.

"They'll add a few more options, a little more competition, more variety and hopefully some better rates," said Russ Wood, supplier development manager for Pepsi Cola in Seattle. "Since there has been more supply than demand lately, rates continue to escalate."

Susan Kearney, corporate account manager, Azumano Carlson Travel Network in Portland, Ore., agreed. "These properties are a boon for Seattle because there's a need for more rooms in the downtown area," she said. "I'm seeing a much more price-driven market than ever before, so it will be good to have more alternatives in the price range that these hotels represent."

The first of the hotels to come on line, Cavanaugh's Inn on Fifth Avenue, opened in mid-May. The property's 300 rooms occupy the top 15 floors of the old 20-story U.S. Bank Building, which was gutted during construction. Each room features two phone outlets and queen- or king-sized beds. More than 12,000 square feet of business and conference facilities will be located on the third floor, and a business center, fitness center and lounge on the fifth floor. The remaining floors will house offices and retail shops.

The other property, the 146-room Paramount Hotel, is set to open in September. Managed by West Coast Hotels, the Paramount is the first new hotel constructed in downtown Seattle in more than 12 years. The guest rooms, measuring about 325 square feet each, will include two phone lines, voice messaging, in-room safes and minibars. The property will have 3,000 square feet of meeting space accommodating up to 200 people.

"These hotels will be of the quality that most business travelers are looking for and at the same time will be within most people's budget," said Steve Morris, president of the Seattle-King County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "There are more and more sold-out rooms in Seattle. We operate a central reservations number for business travelers to find last-minute rooms, and the new hotels will add extra rooms for those people who can't plan too far ahead."

Morris said that while the new hotels will increase supply, "it won't be so much that it will hurt us in the winter."

In related news, the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers completed a $6.5 million renovation of its facilities in June. In addition to offering corporate meetings facilities, the 76-room property provides its guests voicemail with private password protection, video checkout and cellular phone rental.

New and improved lodging is not the only action downtown. Plans for the extension of the Washington State Convention Center are steamrolling ahead. The state has committed 90 percent of the construction cost for the $130 million project, and now the site is undergoing an environmental impact study, which is expected to be completed in September. The report will determine whether the center is expanded on a site to the east or west of the existing facility. If the study decides on the eastern site, the city and county will contribute the remaining $15 million needed to construct the expansion. If it recommends expansion to the north, the site will be turned over to a private developer that will build a 700- to 900-room hotel, reserving the fourth floor for the convention center expansion.

Close to the convention center, a major entertainment complex is almost completely open, providing nightlife options that many business travelers thought were missing from Seattle. The complex includes Niketown, Planet Hollywood, a Sega virtual reality theme park and a 16-screen Cineplex Odeon movie theater.

Not far away, just north of the aquarium at Pier 65 and 66, the Bell Harbor International Conference Center opened June 17 as part of an 11-acre waterfront development on land owned by the Port of Seattle. The 47,000-square-foot conference center was designed for groups of 300 or fewer.

Facilities include a 5,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 6,048-square-foot auditorium and more than 10 smaller meeting rooms measuring between 160 and 1,886 square feet. The conference rooms open onto a deck on the waterfront.

The center will emphasize international meetings, according to Shelly Carter, the center's director of sales and marketing. "Our mission from the Port is to attract international business into Seattle and help place Seattle on the international map," she said. The facility will have six-language simultaneous interpretation capabilities and is hiring a multilingual staff that can speak Mandarin, Japanese, French, Dutch and German.

Bell Harbor will include the latest in high-tech equipment, including a state-of-the-art videconferencing room, a $60,000 computer graphic and video projector in the main auditorium, network ports and modem lines. "Because of our high-tech equipment, there's been a great deal of interest from the medical market and high-tech industries," Carter said.

The conference center works with four preferred hotels-the Edgewater next door, the Warwick, the Westin and the Alexis. Within 18 to 24 months, however, there will be a hotel across the street. The Port, which owns the land, has been in negotiations for several months, Carter said.