Massachusetts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide opened its third Four Points hotel in the Greater Boston metropolitan area. Four Points by Sheraton Wakefield Boston Hotel & Conference Center, 12 miles north of downtown Boston, offers 280 guest rooms and an IACC-certified conference center. Convenient both to downtown and the historic North Shore, the hotel can accommodate groups of up to 450 in its 18,000-square-foot conference center, and will complete a $5 million renovation to upgrade all guest rooms and public areas by early next year.
MGM Resorts International broke ground on the MGM Springfield, an $800 million casino resort slated to open in fall 2017 in downtown Springfield. The mixed-use development will be Massachusetts’ first destination casino resort, and include a 25-story, 250-room hotel, 45,000 square feet of meeting space, 125,000 square feet of gaming space and about 55,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
New York
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) signed a management contract for a 251-room Crowne Plaza hotel in the heart of Manhattan. The new-build property, located on 36th street next to Times Square, is scheduled to open in 2017 and will feature an 80-foot glass atrium, flexible meeting space, a fitness facility and a standalone restaurant and bar concept. The owner, LRR Holdings, also owns two EVEN Hotel properties—IHG’s new wellness-focused brand—that are currently under construction in Manhattan.
The Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel unveiled an 11,000-square-foot lower level meeting space that provides boutique-style, personalized services and catering options to smaller-sized groups and executive meetings from 10 to 150 attendees. The lower level space was formally known as the Executive Conference Center and will be renamed this spring after the hotel holds a national naming contest for meeting planners. The new level features a $2.2 million soft goods renovation to its public spaces, entry lounge and 13 meeting rooms. The property offers 35,000 square feet of event and prefunction space.
Ontario
Hilton Hotels & Resorts reflagged and reopened the former Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Conference Centre in Mississauga as the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale. The hotel will be managed by Hilton. Located in Canada’s sixth-largest city, the property is set on 15 acres of landscaped parkland in the Meadowvale Business Park, and is 15 minutes from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The hotel offers 374 recently renovated guest rooms in two towers with a contemporary design and over 40,000 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities consisting of two ballrooms, 40 meeting rooms and a dedicated foyer space.
Pennsylvania
Nemacolin Woodlands Resort completed a 15-month, $30 million renovation that is the largest project of its kind in the resort’s 28-year history. The improvements feature floor-to-ceiling upgrades spread across three phases, including four of the resort’s six lodging options, the 32,000-square-foot Executive Conference Center and public spaces. The 2,000-acre resort southeast of Pittsburgh also opened a Holistic Healing Center, Holistic Garden and a 3,000-foot-long dueling zipline at the resort’s Adventure Center.