Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers Announces Major Expansion Project

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

SEATTLE, WA, August 1, 2005.The Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers announced today that it will begin a $112 million expansion project, including the construction of a new, 25-story tower, in August 2005. The project will significantly increase and enhance the hotel's guest and meeting room facilities to better serve the needs of the adjacent Washington State Convention & Trade Center in attracting large conventions and meetings to the city.

"The expansion of the Sheraton Seattle is a major milestone in Seattle's development as a premier convention, business and leisure travel destination," said Don Welsh, president and CEO of Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau. "This new addition provides us the opportunity to pursue larger convention groups that have not been able to meet in Seattle in the past due to the fact that they require a 1,000-room headquarters hotel. Additionally, the Sheraton Seattle development promises to provide greater vibrancy to our world-class downtown."

Construction will officially begin August 2005 and is estimated to be completed by spring 2007. The project includes construction of the new 415-guestroom Union Street Tower on the south portion of the property, making Sheraton Seattle the city's largest capacity hotel with a total of 1,253 guestrooms. The tower will be built over the three existing podium levels housing the hotel's ballrooms and retail space.

The exterior of the new tower will be clad in a light-colored precast concrete with a champagne-colored aluminum window system and clear vision glass. In addition, the base of the building will be dressed in granite with glass canopies over the sidewalks. The incorporation of existing stylistic design elements - such as banded windows - will help visually connect the Pike Street and Union Street towers.

"We are ecstatic about this significant expansion, as it will bring exciting new opportunities to Seattle, and we will quickly become a premium convention and event destination able to compete with other major metropolitan cities," said Terry Botten, general manager of the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers. "Although we are in the midst of preparing for future growth, our focus throughout the project is to ensure that we maintain the high level of comfort and service that our existing clientele are accustomed to at the Sheraton Seattle."

The project also calls for extensive upgrades to the hotel's meeting facilities that will provide the Sheraton Seattle with a total of 47 meeting rooms and an additional 31,000 square feet of new meeting space for a total of 75,000 square feet. The Grand Ballroom will be enlarged from 14,000 to 18,000 square feet with room for 1,300 people (banquet seating); while the addition of a new floor over the hotel's porte cochere will more than double the size of the Metropolitan Ballroom from 4,700 square feet to 10,000 square feet, with banquet seating for 700.

In addition to the redesign of the existing porte cochere entry, two new entrances will be created: one on Union Street and one on Pike Street. These changes will provide for the placement of a signature restaurant on the lobby level and stronger synergistic tie to the convention center

Seattle-based Callison Architecture, Inc. was selected to handle architectural services. Skanska USA Building Inc. will serve as the project's general contractor.