A number of years back I remember looking for hotels in Philadelphia – the first place I looked was Starwood’s website and to my surprise Starwood only had three hotels in the Downtown Philadelphia area – The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square, Sheraton Society Hill, Sheraton University City and the St Regis Philadelphia. I’m purposely not counting the Sheraton suites & Four Points by the airport because it’s at least 10 minutes away from downtown – if there is zero traffic. I was a little surprised that a city as big as Philadelphia only had three Starwood Hotels – and that the hotels were primarily Sheratons. Consider Marriott which has a Residence Inn, Courtyard and Marriott Hotel all within a two block radius.

Since that time, Starwood’s presence in Philadelphia has changed drastically – today the Sheraton Rittenhouse Square has been converted into Condos, the St Regis Philadelphia converted into a Westin, the former Wyndham Philadelphia converted into Sheraton Center City, with the W Philadelphia, a Westin by Drexel University and a Luxury Collection property near Society Hill (Stamper Square).

Stamper Square – A Luxury Collection Hotel

Stamper Square Rendering

Building Layout of Stamper Square (White Boxes). Notice the recessed entrance on the left side – similar to how the original W Philadelphia was to be laid out

Location of proposed Stamper Square

Currently on the drawing boards of Philadelphia’s Planning Commission is a high rise hotel located in what is called Stamper Square. This hotel, highly rumored to be a Luxury Collection Hotel, would be located on the property where Will Smith’s W Philadelphia was originally supposed to be developed. I’m a little surprised that Starwood would be constructing a new-build Luxury Collection, as most of the locations for that brand are conversions from one-of-a-kind historic properties, but I’ve heard and read from numerous sources that it is indeed supposed to be a Luxury Collection hotel.

Currently the residents of that area are up in arms by the zoning variances that would be required for building that hotel – the current buildings of the neighborhood are predominantly three or four story buildings – so the argument is building a 15-story building would stick out like a sore thumb, but what the residents don’t seem to realize is the high-rise portion will be setback from the street, and be right up against I-95 which borders one side of the property. The developers really thought this one through with the location of the buildings on the property, although I’m still very disappointed that the original W Philadelphia did not pan out on the site – from the renderings I saw it seemed like it would only be a one or two story hotel with its main entrance recessed compared to the rest of the buildings on the site. It would have been a very unique design, yet fit in perfectly with the W Hotel brand.

Westin Hotel at Drexel University

This hotel is still very much in the planning stages, Drexel University is currently accepting proposals from major hotel firms who will build, own and operate the hotels, with Drexel giving a 50 or 90 year ground lease to the hotel firm. From what has been announced, only Marriott & Starwood have submitted a proposal, Marriott via their Renaissance brand, and Starwood via their Westin brand. I think Starwood is uniquely positioned to win this proposal for two simple reasons right off the bat -

#1 – Westin’s brand is based on serenity, and environmental friendliness – which is a great appearance for a major University attempting to be “green”.

#2 – The Sheraton University City is right down the street – demonstrating that Starwood already has the experience in the area as well as experience as a University hotel (the University City Sheraton is located right at the steps of the University of Pennsylvania).

It’s still too early to count this one as a definite hotel – its lower on the pipeline than the Stamper Square Luxury Collection is, but its still on the drawing boards.

W Philadelphia Hotel & Residences

I’ve written about the W Philadelphia on before but the W in Philadelphia has been one of the most anticipated hotels both for those who are specifically looking for W to expand within Philadelphia, and those who are looking for a new hotel experience rather than the other hotels within the Philadelphia city limits. The project has been delayed numerous times – by this time there should have been a groundbreaking or some action on the site, but as of two months ago the site’s current use – a parking lot was still in full operation. I’ve heard many conflicting stories – the W Philadelphia is dead, its far from definite as being a W Hotel, its being delayed due to financing difficulties; pretty much, you name it, you got it.

Personally I think this project will still continue – once again its too valuable of a location for Starwood to not want to be there, but the only difficulty that I see is the current economic climate.

Outskirts of Philadelphia

Even though I wanted to primarily focus on the Starwood expansion within the Downtown Philadelphia area, its worth mentioning that one of the first alofts to open nationwide is the aloft Philadelphia Airport, right next to the Sheraton Suites & Four Points right outside of the Philadelphia Airport, in addition, the Westin Mount Laurel is due to open May 1st – directly across the street from the aloft Mount Laurel due to open in June 2009.

Most of this expansion can be attributed to Starwood’s overall expansion throughout the world – currently they have almost 500 hotels in the pipeline, which is 50% of their current hotel count of 900 hotels.

I’m glad to see this expansion of Starwood – its time that Marriott and Hilton get even more healthier competition.

andrew@alconic-inc.com