BusinessReport.com

The King isn’t dead, it’s just sleeping—and perhaps not much longer.

The Hotel King, originally built as headquarters for Standard Motor Car Co. in 1932, will have its interior gutted next month, according to Nu Vieux LLC, the firm managing the vintage structure’s reputed comeback.

The plan is to turn the King into an upscale “boutique” hotel with about 90 rooms. The boutique trend—which emphasizes non-generic appointments and a limited number of rooms—is already old in New Orleans and many other cities. It’s a move away from the cookie-cutter, big-box concept which has dominated the industry, though it’s caught the attention of major chains, some of which have responded by rolling out boutique brands of their own.

If the project goes forward, the Hotel King will be the first boutique downtown. Cyntreniks Group, headed by attorney and Downtown Development District Commissioner Brace Godfrey, bought the property from Bob Dean last year for $4.5 million. The building is across Lafayette Street from the newly renovated Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center.

Nu Vieux partner Francis Grayson declined to reveal how much they think it’ll cost to resurrect the King. Gayle Carnahan, the firm’s other partner, says final numbers won’t be clear until the interior design is complete. Room rates are still a secret as well. Grayson says they’ll be priced “competitively within the marketplace.” Plans are to move the hotel’s entrance from Convention Street to Lafayette so it will face the Hilton. The idea for a rooftop atrium was discarded because it didn’t meet standards for historical buildings.

Though Cyntreniks claimed last year that several hotel chains were interested in affixing their flags to the project, Carnahan says the King plans to be independent. Those plans could change, he says, though they probably won’t.

“There are a lot of things that a flag brings, of course, but we don’t think it adds that much more to the product to justify the cost of a franchise license,” Carnahan says.

Grayson says he’s not worried about the thousands of new hotel rooms supposedly planned for the Baton Rouge market in the near future and that the King will be “stylish and unique enough” to hold its own. The biggest challenge will be getting the most out of the limited space available, he says. The King, which once crammed in 165 no-frills sleeping rooms, is only 46,000 square feet. Grayson says the renovation should be finished by the end of 2008.

As for the white giant across the street, Carnahan sees the Hilton not so much as a competitor as a source of overflow. If he’s right, it would be in keeping with the historic connection between the two hotels—Huey P.’s secret tunnel, for instance.

“I think we will play off of each other,” Grayson says. “We will differentiate ourselves.”

Carnahan says he thinks the area is growing fast enough to fill all the hotel space that will be available, and says the King will help ease the shortage of rooms downtown.

Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau, says downtown has about 600 rooms but could use twice that many to make the city more attractive to large conventions. As it is, when a big convention comes to town, not every person can be accommodated downtown. That’s what happened with the Neighborhoods USA Convention scheduled for the River Center around Memorial Day, Arrigo says.

“We had to find rooms outside of downtown,” he says. “That means you get involved with busing and logistics.”

Arrigo says he thinks there will be a demand for a boutique hotel downtown and says the fact the King is minority-owned may help fuel revitalization efforts. He’s hopes it’s successful, since it’ll give the CVB more product to sell.

And while Arrigo feels like the King is the most concrete of the hotel projects he’s discussed for downtown, he nevertheless offers a caveat.

“It’s not open ’til it’s open.”