Meeting News - February 25, 2008 - (Page 24)

Destination Insider: Monterey, CA Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Largest Wave of New Meetings Properties Washes Over the Peninsula After 20 Years InterContinental, Fairmont part of more than $200 million in investments The InterContinental the Clement Monterey is the first project to be completed as part of $200 million in destination-wide investments that are adding 1,000 guest rooms to Monterey’s inventory over the next two years.“Monterey County is in the midst of a renaissance,” said John McMahon, president and CEO of the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is the largest amount of capital invested in the destination in some time, and clearly the largest growth in new properties in two decades. We’ll be thrilled to see the energy that these developments will generate.” The InterContinental property will be the ﬁrst new hotel on the Monterey Peninsula in more than 20 years when it opens on Cannery Row in May. The $85-million, 208-room hotel will feature a restaurant overlooking Monterey Bay and nearly 19,000 sf of retail space. It will have 15,000 sf of indoor and outdoor function space, including two ballrooms with terraces and nine breakout rooms. Developers of another major project, the Fairmont Seaside Resort, have upped their investment to more than $100 million, and the resort’s groundbreaking will take place later this year. The Fairmont is set to open by late 2010 on 440 oceanfront acres on the former Fort Ord site. The luxury mixed-use property will have 275 guest rooms and 20,000 sf of meeting space. A new clubhouse is slated for the existing Bayonet and Black Horse golf courses, both of which are scheduled to complete signiﬁcant renovations this June. Additional projects in the Monterey Peninsula’s pipeline are a 252-room conference center hotel in Seaside, owned by baseball’s Reggie Jackson; a boutique hotel that is part of the former Fort Ord’s Main Gate development; a 75-room Holiday Inn Express in Salinas; and two hotels in Marina. Renovation projects include that at Post Ranch in Big Sur, and 24 rooms, new meeting space, and a spa/ﬁtness center at the historic Monterey Hotel. Modern sensibility and ﬁreside warmth redeﬁned the lobby at Hyatt Regency Monterey Hyatt Regency Homestretch Over the next two months, the Hyatt Regency Monterey will wrap up the second phase of a $55million project that, according to GM Mark Bastis, will redeﬁne the resort in the local market: “The extensive upgrades reﬂect Hyatt’s commitment to design, services, and amenities.” The ﬁrst phase, last spring, redesigned the lobby and launched TusCA Ristorante, serving Tuscan cuisine with California ingredients from its open kitchen. TusCA has a wine room for private events of up to 15 attendees. In the second phase, last September, the resort began renovating all 556 guest rooms, including 31 suites and the four-bedroom, standalone President’s House; the ﬁnal section of rooms will be done by May. The interior design features warm colors and natural textures, and new amenities are Hyatt’s Grand Bed, 32-inch plasma TVs, and wireless web. Next phase will open a 12,000-sf spa next October. InterContinental the Clement Monterey is slated for debut in May. Event Report Making Connections Meetings-intensive realtor group is sold on Monterey’s cooperative spirit Every second year, the California Association of Realtors’ quarterly business meeting of 1,200 attendees takes over the connected complex of the Monterey Conference Center, the 379-room Portola Plaza, and the 241-room Monterey Marriott. “Monterey is a nice ﬁt for our program, because we buy out all three venues and essentially own them for the week,” said Monica King, the group’s meeting planner. Dubbed the Monterey Meeting Connection, the trio of facilities gives the realtors what they need: support for more than 300 meetings over the course 24 MeetingNews February 25, 2008 Ranch Style in Carmel Valley In January, the 144-suite Carmel Valley Ranch Resort reopened its main lodge after a 10-month, $12-million project that also included renovations of its golf course and clubhouse. The Lodge has a redesigned lobby, reconfigured function space (4,500 sf indoor and 15,000 sf outdoor), and a new signature restaurant, Citronelle. Along with overseeing the restaurant, Michel Richard, the James Beard Outstanding Chef of 2007, will direct cuisine for group functions, in-room dining, and three other eateries at the property. r —Section written by Heidi Waldrop Bay www.meetingnews.com of a week—with as many as 32 simultaneous sessions. The group has returned every other January for the past six years and plans to continue the schedule into the foreseeable future. “People don’t have to trek a mile to get where they need to go. Everything is right there,”King said.“Last year, we held a reception for 600 in the atrium lobby of the Portola. Everyone moved over to the conference center ballroom for a banquet of 900. That seamless quality is true in both physical layout and service.” http://www.meetingnews.com

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