The Fairmont group of luxury hotels and resorts has announced the development of a new Austin hotel. The Fairmont Austin is due to open in 2015 and will be located close to the city’s convention centre. This is to be a concept hotel and will cost in the region of $350 million. Plenty of familiar features from Fairmont’s luxury service will be evident in the new property. The original plans allowed for 1,035 rooms, but this has now been reduced to 1,000 so that the rooms can be made much more spacious.
Fairmont is currently one of the strongest hospitality companies specialising in luxury hotels and the aim is to create a hotel that has been designed specifically for the local market. The hotel will have 50 storeys and will include more than 70,000 square feet of meeting and event space. It will be the second highest building in Austin and this is to be the second hotel for the group in this region.
The hotel will also be designed and built with ecological issues in mind. The hope is to achieve LEED certification, which is issued by the US Green Building Council to projects that have successfully used sustainable materials and systems to make the project as environmentally friendly as possible. Fairmont has a Green Partnership Program that looks at issues such as waste management, energy production and use, and water conservation. In addition there are real efforts to help local communities, recycle as much as possible, and source sustainable products.
Author – Andrew White