Peabody Expansion Construction Update for the Nation’s Professional Meeting Planners (United States)
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Peabody Expansion Construction Update for the Nation’s Professional Meeting Planners (United States)
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Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands - United States - Industry economy -
Renovation / Addition
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2008-10-30
When The Peabody Orlando’s expansion construction is completed in November, 2010, it will be among the largest non-gaming hotels in the United States. Construction milestones are being reached on or ahead of schedule along the way.
“Construction on the project is moving apace, and the prognostications for a November 2010 opening are excellent,” said Alan C. Villaverde, executive vice president, Peabody Hotels, and general manager of The Peabody Orlando. “This news is music to the ears of the nation’s professional meeting planners.”
“The long-anticipated expansion of The Peabody Orlando is now a reality,” said Tony Aslanian, director of sales and marketing for the hotel. “This expansion project is a worthy reaffirmation of our owners’ commitment to Orlando and Central Florida as a prime destination for meetings and conventions. And, in this uncertain economic climate, the expansion of our hotel will generate much-needed jobs and pump additional tax revenues into local government.”
When the expansion is complete, the hotel will feature a total of 1,641 ultra luxurious guest rooms, 210,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art, flexible function/exhibition space, a parking garage for 2,100 cars, 22,000 sq. ft. Peabody Spa & Athletic Club, Napa Valley Wine-themed restaurant overlooking a new, three-acre, exotic grotto pool, Food-on-the-go outlets throughout, and covered walkway access to all sections of the Orange County Convention Center.
Stephen Abrams, president of the Winter Park based SCA Design Group was the principal-in-charge of the original Peabody hotel in Orlando. “Our firm has been dedicated to the architectural design of The Peabody Orlando expansion for the past twenty years,” he said. “We are committed to making sure that the expansion is the ideal addition to the hotel and the International Drive convention area.”
Some of the construction industry’s most experienced and talented engineers, designers and construction professionals from Balfour Beatty Construction US, and Belz Construction Company, are fully engaged in this mammoth $450-million project, which was designed by local architect, Stephen C. Abrams, SCA Design Group, Winter Park, who was part of the design team for the original hotel back in 1984.
“Good coordination and great communication are the keys to this project,” said Paul Conover, project manager, Belz Construction Company And, indeed, that seems to be the case as construction deadlines are met and even surpassed.
Construction phases of the expansion are moving vigorously ahead. From the initial site preparation, which to the untrained eye looked like a vast hole in the ground, the outlines of the new buildings are now discernible. Meeting planners from all over the nation have been asking what they can expect – and when – so that they can brief their clients. This Peabody Expansion Construction Update (PECU) has been designed to answer those questions, and to keep meeting planners fully in the picture on construction progress.
To take advantage of this magnificent new meetings hotel, which is uniquely and strategically located in the midst of the 7-million square feet of combined space of the Orange County Convention Center, many meeting planners already are booking business from the fall of 2010 and through the succeeding decade.
“Activity is really beginning to accelerate,” said Kurt Kotzin, Project Manager for Belz Construction Company. “Progress on the project can be seen week by week.”
Peabody Guest Tower which will house 750 ultra luxurious, fully “wired,” guest rooms is on course and the first two tower cranes standing a massive 408+ feet high are in position. The first level floor slab will be cast in early-December.
New Parking Garage is on schedule for completion in mid-2009. Work on the elevator tower, foundation and walls is in full swing and the construction schedule will be met. The first pieces of the frame arrive on site in December.
New Function/Meeting/Exhibition Space continues with the placement of underground utilities, concrete foundations and retaining walls.
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