Kimpton Hotels
& Restaurant Group
checks out of Midtown
Midtown’s Hotel Palomar will soon be re-branded as a Marriott Renaissance Hotel.
The 21-story Hotel Palomar Atlanta Midtown, a boutique hotel at 866 West Peachtree street, was recently acquired by Annapolis, Md. based, Thayer Lodging Group.
Thayer has replaced the hotel’s management firm, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group, with Marriott International and sources close to the project confirmed that Hotel Palomar will reopen as a Marriott Renaissance Hotel.
“Hotel Palomar will be a Renaissance managed by Marriott International,” a highly placed Marriott insider told What Now Atlanta Friday.
The Hotel Palomar should expect to reopen as the Renaissance Hotel in “three to four months,” according to that same source.
As the result of Thayer dropping Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for Marriott International, Pacci Ristorante, the hotel’s in-house restaurant is slated to close in March (story here).
“With a Marriott-branded hotel comes standardized dining to replace what was a unique and very consistent restaurant within a hotel,” said our Marriott insider.
The 304-room hotel began construction in 2007 and opened in 2009, run by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group LLC.
Marriott International operated a Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown but Sol Meliá Hotels and Resorts took over the management and flag of the 502-room hotel last October.
Marriott International dropped its Renaissance flag from the hotel on Sept. 30, 2010.
(Photo credit: Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Renaissance Hotel
866 West Peachtree Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30308
12 Responses
……and the decline begins.
Boutique and chic gets replaced by the mundane and mainstream….if you were wondering what was going to replace Pacci, my bet is Applebees.
Sooo disappointed.
I’m happy Kimpton is out of Midtown. I’ve only experienced poor service at any Kimpton property. Was Hotel Palomar ever at half capacity?
This is just devastating to Atlanta. We simply can not have anything nice or unique. Let’s bring in another generic ugly Marriott Hotel, since we just dont have enough of those here!! Will someone please save Midtown!!
I’m sad to see this unique hotel go. I just stayed at the Palomar in DC over the weekend and was beyond impressed. Kimpton hotels have always been my favorite when I’m looking for something fun. How many Marriotts do we have now?
To answer Katie’s question, there are 81 Marriott-branded hotels in the metro Atlanta area. Atlanta is not only a test market for new Marriott brands, but also the 3rd largest market for Marriott in the country.
Let me further qualify my above explanation to explain that Marriott does own any of the above properties. They are not a real estate company, rather they are a management company.
For those that are disappointed in “another Marriott hotel,” it is the new owners of the Palomar that wanted Marriott to brand and manage the operation. Marriott grows its business through management contracts and franchise agreements only – not by purchasing and developing its own hotels through real estate transactions.
I don’t think the disappointment stems from what the owners want to do. They’re owners, and their number one goal is to be profitable. Palomar wasn’t profitable, thus the reason it wound up in the situation it’s currently in. The disappointment stems from the population (and seemingly a small one) of people in this city who can call themselves urbane. These are the people that find pleasure in experiencing new cuisine, new nightlife, and new culture, rather than eating the same old deep fried shit and drinking the same cheap ass beer every time they go out. They’re the people that would rather spend $30 on an entree, or $8 on a cocktail, on occasion, rather than spend $300k on a 5 bedroom house for a family of two (one of the most amazing ironies of Atlanta in my opinion). They’re the type who aren’t scared to ride MARTA because there are people of varying ethnicities that also ride it. Unfortunately, they’re also a very small portion of the population. Of the 5.5mm people that live in the Atlanta MSA, only 550k or so live in the “city” of Atlanta. Of that 550k, there is an even smaller percentage that has a true concept of what urban living is about.
The city (ITP) to this point just doesn’t have enough cohesive fabric to offer a great urban experience. I think the people are there or will be there as gentrification continues, but they’re so clustered in different disjointed spaces that no urban cohesion seems to exist in its pure form due to Atlanta’s historical boosterism and development-friendly attitude that has led to the destruction of everything from neighborhoods to street grids. 3 quick examples are The Streets of Buckhead, the Atlanta Civic Center, and Freedom Parkway. The first destroyed a very usable commercial center, the second destroyed a street grid and an entire community, and the third destroyed a swath of fine Inman Park homes as well as neighborhood connectivity.
I think the people that enjoy urbanity enjoy it for reasons and spaces that Atlanta just does not consistently provide. Asheville, NC is a great example of a place that has given rise to a cultural community of urban dwellers simply by providing the fabric in which they thrive.
The loss of Pacci and such a uniquely branded hotel is just devastating. You can’t travel a mike in this town without passing a Marriott. I will be shocked to see them replace Pacci with anything decent. I’m taking my money and time to the Loews on Peachtree!!
I’m so disappointed that Kimpton is gone I was googling the locations for a surprise stay with my Husband and I learn that it is being replaced by Marriott like really I hate Marriott. I worked for them and they are crap. Thanks a lot.