The plan to convert an old University of New Orleans building on Canal Street downtown into a pair of Marriott Hotels should be underway soon; the hotel's developers have filed renovation permit applications with the city.
Dallas developer NewcrestImage is turning the 13-story vacant office building into a 105-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott and a 78-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott.
The two hotels—SpringHill caters to leisure and business travelers, TownePlace would be an extended stay hotel—would share amenities, including a rooftop with an "8,000-square-foot garden overlooking Canal Street with an outdoor bar, exercise room, guest laundry area and penthouse area."
The developers expect to receive the renovation permit within the next 60 days and construction would begin soon after that. The hotels are slated to be complete "sometime in mid-2017."
• Permits filed for hotel conversion at former UNO building [CityBusiness]
• Mapping 20-Plus New Orleans Hotel Projects to Watch [Curbed NOLA]