DoubleTree by Hilton renovations complete at former downtown Fort Smith Holiday Inn

The DoubleTree by Hilton Fort Smith City Center is open for business, with $10 million spent – a cost that does not include furniture, fixtures and equipment – to renovate the hotel connected to the Fort Smith Convention Center.

The company announced renovations were complete on the property located at the former Holiday Inn/Executive Hotel, 700 Rogers Avenue, in a Wednesday (Nov. 2) press release.

The hotel, located at 700 Rogers Ave., will help the city’s renewed strategic development efforts for the downtown area, said Claude Legris, director of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).

“Before the Gateway project came along, that hotel was a critical factor in attracting out-of-towners to Fort Smith, going back to when it was the Holiday Inn and before that, the old Executive Hotel,” Legris told Talk Business & Politics. “It and the Marriott Courtyard have been headquarter properties for bringing conferences and trade shows to the convention center, and this renovation will allow us to continue benefiting from their national reservations network and their brand.”

Earlier this year, an effort spearheaded by 64.6 Downtown – the group behind the murals in downtown Fort Smith – took shape involving a more detailed strategic plan for downtown Fort Smith that fell in line with the December 2014 Future Fort Smith Comprehensive Plan. Gateway Planning was hired to do the legwork — the same group behind the Downtown Rogers, Ark., redevelopment plan — with a detailed draft to be presented to the Fort Smith Board of Directors in the spring of 2017. Seen as a multi-year $100 million+ effort, the Gateway plan would require public and private partnerships to achieve the overall objective of creating a more business- and pedestrian-friendly downtown with a well-developed riverfront.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Fort Smith City Center will serve as a major contribution on the private side, but for the first half of 2016, renovations limited nearby lodging options for conferences and trade shows at the Convention Center. The center “survived” those renovations, Legris said, noting that in spite of the reduced options, “the center only lost one piece of business” to Northwest Arkansas – the annual Rotary Conference – “but they didn’t want to relocate, and have already rebooked for next year.”

Tom Forthofer, director of sales and marketing with the Hilton Hotels Corporation, said new hotel will help the Convention Center “pull business from other destination cities in Arkansas like Little Rock, Fayetteville, Bentonville, and Hot Springs.”

“It puts Fort Smith back on a competitive playing field in Arkansas,” he added.

NEW HOTEL FEATURES
The hotel is the brand’s first in Fort Smith, and features a nine-story atrium-style design, 255 upscale rooms, and a five-story waterfall that cascades into the lobby. In the official release, DoubleTree by Hilton touted proximity to Fort Smith Regional Airport as well as walkability to area businesses and historic attractions like the Museum of History, the outdoor Trolley Car Museum, “and pleasant walking trails along the Arkansas River” as key selling points.

“Downtown Fort Smith is an increasingly popular business hub for western Arkansas, thanks in large part to its spacious and versatile convention center,” said Dianna Vaughan, senior vice president and global head, DoubleTree by Hilton. “By fully renovating the adjacent hotel and converting it to DoubleTree by Hilton, we are bringing to Fort Smith the upscale lodging and welcoming service our guests expect from our growing, worldwide brand.”

All rooms feature complimentary Wi-Fi access, an ergonomic work station, black-out curtains and come with interior balconies in view of the waterfall. Additionally, there is an open lobby restaurant and lounge; custom artwork throughout the hotel; sculptures on the back wall of the reception desk reflecting the annual butterfly migration through Fort Smith each fall; and the 1817 Grille, a restaurant with regional cuisine and locally-sourced ingredients.

By the waterfall, the hotel features a cocktail lounge called “The Tap Room” that offers an assortment of drinks and signature cocktails in a space equipped with screens for watching sports and entertainment.

For the business community, DoubleTree by Hilton Fort Smith City Center provides more than 17,000 square feet of column-free, on-site meeting space, including a 10,656-square-foot grand ballroom. When combined with the connecting convention center, the property provides an additional 47,000 square feet of space that can accommodate up to 4,500 people for conferences, banquets or other large events. State-of-the-art AV equipment and services are available in addition to a 24-hour business center.

Other features include a 24-hour fitness center, an indoor heated pool and a free shuttle to any location within a five-mile radius, including the airport.