The University announced its plan to develop a $28 million boutique hotel and conference center on Centennial Campus independently managed and operated under the Marriott Autograph Collection franchise.
The hotel, which is set to open in summer 2016, will include 7,500 square feet of meeting space and conference rooms in addition to the 155 nightly rooms. A further expansion that would add 75 rooms and 7,500 square feet of meeting space is under consideration.
The hotel will overlook Lake Raleigh and sit adjacent to the Park Alumni Centers across from the fishing piers, according to Michael Harwood, associate vice chancellor at the Centennial Campus Development Office.
Harwood said the simplest reason for building the hotel is the University’s need for a versatile meeting space within a close proximity to campus.
“We have academic faculty and staff that have a lot of conference and training opportunities that are currently housed off campus,” Harwood said.
Harwood said groups such as N.C. State Executive Education at the Poole College of Management have been going all the way to the Friday Institute in Chapel Hill to meet and hold conferences.
The hotel will also benefit the University’s relationships with its corporate partners, Harwood said.
“Corporate partners here on Centennial Campus need a place for their sales meetings, training and meetings related to their companies where they are bringing in folks from out of town,” Harwood said.
Other Universities in the Triangle have hotels and conference centers on campus, such as the Carolina Inn at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Washington Duke Inn at Duke University, which emphasizes the need for a similar space at N.C. State, Harwood said.
The facility will be funded and operated independently, with N.C. State leasing the land to NF II/CEI Raleigh LLC, a partnership of Concord Eastridge Inc. and Noble Investment Group who will own the hotel.
Harwood said it is important for students to know that no money from student’s tuition or fees will be spend on this building project.
“The ways it’s being paid for it will be like any other hotel that needs to support itself,” Harwood said. “It won’t have any access to N.C. State funds.”
The Marriott Autograph Collection is a brand of hotels that emphases having a unique theme and personal expression in each of its facilities, which is why it seemed like a perfect fit to bring to N.C. State, according to Harwood.
“Many hotel brands are very prescriptive about what colors and decorations that you can use so that it fits their consistent style,” Harwood said. “The Marriott Autograph Collection wants every one of its hotels to be different and have a unique idea. The idea for the hotel on Centennial Campus is N.C. State.”
In 2000, the University began working on a similar plan for a version of the hotel and conference center, but was forced to abandon the project after the hospitality industry temporarily collapsed after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, Harwood said.
The economy has finally transitioned back to a stable point, and, after it found the right developer and hotel chain, the University was once again ready to go through with the production plan, according to Harwood.
“This hotel is the latest exciting addition to Centennial Campus,” said Chancellor Randy Woodson in an N.C. State press release. “Not only will it be a place of learning and collaboration, but it will also serve as an important amenity for the campus.”
Harwood said this project has been in the works for a very long time, and the chancellor as well as students and administration are all thrilled to have the finished product on campus.
“It is an amenity that doesn’t exist today that will change Centennial Campus for the better,” Harwood said.
