Meetings Today - August 2017

FLORIDA

The Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach is scheduled to open its doors this year. The 200-room beachfront property is a collaboration with Summit Hospitality Management Group and Hard Rock International. The hotel will feature the brand’s signature offerings such as a Body Rock fitness facility, Rock Spa, Rock Shop and The Sound of Your Stay music amenity program. The property will boast 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, including meeting rooms with views of the Atlantic Ocean and an open-air terrace. www.hardrockhotels.com

Xenia Hotels & Resorts acquired the 815-key Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando. Enhancements and an expansion are planned to take place over the next few years, including the property’s meeting facilities.

The convention resort offers six food and beverage outlets, over 65,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space, a full-service spa and preferred access to 45 holes of Jack Nicklaus signature-designed golf courses.

The hotel is located near Walt Disney World theme parks, Universal Orlando Resort, the Orange County Convention Center and downtown Orlando.

www.hyatt.com

LOUISIANA

NOPSI Hotel, New Orleans–a Salamander Hotel

opened in what was the former New Orleans Public
Service Inc. (NOPSI) headquarters. Located in the
Central Business District, the nine-story brick building
was originally constructed in 1927 and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The hotel features
217 guest rooms, a regionally inspired restaurant,

14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space and a rooftop pool and bar. The restoration included the building’s street facades, cast iron rails and stone panels, and the lobby features renovated vaulted ceilings, arches, ornamental columns, brass grills and stone terrazzo flooring. The hotel’s meeting space includes the conversion of an adjacent building into the 4,000-square-foot Dryades Ballroom. www. salamanderhotels.com

NORTH CAROLINA

The MRK Hotel Collection celebrated
the grand opening of The Ivey’s
Hotel in Uptown Charlotte. The
hotel features 42 guest rooms, a
cocktail lounge, private meeting
and event space and a Library
Lounge exclusive to guests of
the hotel. Originally a depart-
ment store that debuted in
the early 1900s by J.B. Ivey,
the multimillion-dollar project
revitalized the historic space.
The hotel encompasses roughly
38,000 square feet of the historic
Ivey’s building and all guest rooms
are located on the second floor with the
remaining space dedicated to residences
and retail. The Tulip Room is a 1,000-square-foot
meeting space and the Library Lounge offers private
space for guests, serving breakfast as well as offering
wine and cheese receptions. The property also features
two food and beverage concepts: Sophia’s Lounge and
5Church Charlotte. www.theiveyshotel.com

TENNESSEE

The Kimpton Aertson Hotel opened in Nashville’s
Midtown neighborhood. The brand’s first property in
the city pays homage to Jan Aertson, a Dutch farmer
who immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1700s and was
an ancestor of the neighboring university’s namesake
Cornelius Vanderbilt. The hotel’s 180 guest rooms offer
city and Vanderbilt campus views. Adjacent to the
hotel, and also accessible through the lobby, is Henley,
a modern American brasserie run by James Beard
Award-winning chef RJ Cooper. The hotel’s eighth floor
features more than 6,500 square feet of meeting and
event space, including the 3,630-square-foot Patterson
Ballroom with floor-to-ceiling windows and a large
wraparound private outdoor terrace. There is also in-
door event space and a private outdoor terrace for 150
guests on the 17th floor. www.kimptonhotels.com
trending

ARKANSAS
GOES
MAD

El Dorado, Ark., may not be known for its arts, culinary or music offerings, but rather for its history as an oil boomtown. With the Murphy Arts District (MAD) debuting in September, that could be changing. The $100 million development includes a music, entertainment and restaurant complex that will open in phases.

“The past five years has seen a very strong
effort toward revitalization in the downtown core,”

president of Murphy Arts District, Austin Barrow, explained.

The $54 million Phase I of the MAD develop-
ment focuses on the 1928 Griffin Auto Company
Building, which was once an assembly center
and showroom for Model T Fords. The venue’s
renovation features a farm-to-table restaurant,
cabaret lounge and 2,000-seat music hall, and
will overlook a new 8,000-capacity amphitheater.
“Many industry people think I’m ‘MAD’ when I
tell them about the El Dorado project, but it’s going
to be the most important work of my career when
one considers the lives that will be changed by the
economic redevelopment and cultural infusion we
are working to achieve,” Chief Executive Officer
Terry Stewart, the former CEO and president of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said. “We are bringing
song, dance, good food and theater to a communi-
ty and region that has long been underserved.”
Phase II is a $32 million renovation of
the 1920s Rialto Theater, the creation of a

10,000-square-foot art gallery and exhibition hall as well as artist-in-residence quarters.

“The Rialto Theater will be restored to its original state with music, second-run movies, live HD broadcasts of productions, Broadway tours, comedy and locally produced content,” Barrow said. “With more than 850 seats, it will be available for rental.”