The Chancellor Hotel Draws Big Crowd for Grand Opening
by September 14, 2012 1:35 pm 205 views
After a 10-month renovation project with a price tag of close to $16 million, The Chancellor Hotel in downtown Fayetteville is once again open for business.
Hundreds of people packed inside the first-floor lobby of the 15-story building at 70 N. East Avenue to celebrate a “game-changing event,” according to Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
The project to refurbish and modernize the hotel, which opened in 1981 as a Hilton, was spearheaded by Sam Alley, the chairman and CEO of VCC Construction in Little Rock, and Ike Thrash, principal of Dawn Properties in Mississippi.
Both men spoke prior to a ceremonial ribbon cutting Friday. Other speakers were Fayetteville mayor Lioneld Jordan, University of Arkansas chancellor David Gearhart, Panamanian president (and UA alum) Ricardo Martinelli and Gov. Mike Beebe.
Alley, a University of Arkansas graduate in the late 1970s, said Fayetteville and the UA campus have always held a special place in his heart. He hopes The Chancellor can become to others what the city has always been to him —a home away from home.
“This is what this city deserves,” Alley said. ‘I have so many memories from when I was in school here; Ole Main, the campus. This is unbelievable. It really touches my heart.”
Alley and Thrash, through their Southwind Hospitality Holdings LLC, paid $3.8 million for the property last year.
It took about 350 workers and 100,000 man-hours to finish the renovation, which began immediately after guests checked out of the Cosmopolitan Hotel — the previous name — on November 13.
The building includes 200,000-SF of completely renovated space and now offers 207 guest rooms and 15 luxury suites on the top two floors.
Three of the suites are 1,400-SF or larger, topped by The Chancellor Suite, an 1,800-SF space situated on the 16th floor with a view of the UA campus.
The 16th-floor suites will be open for viewing Thursday evening and Friday morning
The hotel, which has 100 employees, also includes 14,000-SF of meeting space, with six rooms that can accommodate up to 600 guests.
Partnering on the project were the architectural firm Flick Mars in Dallas, interior designer Tobi Fairley of Little Rock, landscape designer Chris Olsen of Little Rock’s Botanica Gardens, and Fayetteville restaurateur Scott Bowman who will operate the property’s restaurant, Union Kitchen + Drinks.
“You all have done a marvelous job,” Beebe said. “This will enhance the quality of life, the reputation and the front door of Fayetteville. The first impression of this city will be greatly improved by a first-class operation.”
Alley noted the hotel was booked solid this weekend, and has a wait list of 150 people for next weekend.
He also added that building and maintaining a strong reputation for The Chancellor would be an ongoing priority.
The Cosmopolitan was Fayetteville’s only full-service hotel but endured its share of financial ups and downs.
It passed into receivership and was acquired in December 2010 by ANB Ventures LLC, a company created by the FDIC to sort through the loans made by Bentonville’s ANB Financial NA.
Federal regulators shut down the lender in May 2008, halting the multimillion-dollar renovation effort of Fayetteville businessmen Richard Alexander and John Nock. They bought the Cosmopolitan in 2006.
“I can tell you, we’re never going to let it go down like it did before,” Alley said. “We’re going to continue to renovate as time goes. Probably seven years from now, we’ll be renovating again. We want it to be first class.”