As first reported by Daily Report, developer Mike Wampold announced this afternoon the finalization of a franchise agreement with Marriott to revitalize the old LNB Building downtown into a new 148-room Autograph hotel called Watermark Baton Rouge.
The developer has been working on plans for a hotel in the historic, 91-year-old building for more than a year, but he did not have a flag for the hotel until Monday, when the deal was signed in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Autograph brand is one of the newest and ritziest in the Marriott family of hotels, and Wampold says his hotel at 150 N. Third St. will be “upper upscale,” with high-end amenities, restored vintage artwork and a full-service restaurant.
“This is going to be more upscale than the Renaissance,” says Wampold, referring to another Marriott hotel he owns on Bluebonnet Boulevard that opened in 2011. “This is going to be the most upscale hotel in Baton Rouge.”
Wampold’s announcement comes on the same day developers of a Courtyard Marriott, which is planned for a vacant lot just down the block at Florida and North Third streets, are planning to ask the Metro Council to create a special tax increment financing district to help finance construction of their project. Wampold secured TIF financing from the Metro Council earlier this spring.
Wampold, who acquired the historic building in early 2014 with plans to develop it into a hotel, originally sought a Courtyard Marriott franchise for the project. But Windsor Aughtry, which also developed and owns the Hampton Inn downtown, ended up getting the Courtyard flag. Wampold says the situation worked out well from his perspective.
“This was a stroke of luck,” says Wampold, who entered into negotiations with Marriott’s full-service division after talks with the Courtyard division ended.
Windsor Aughtry, meanwhile, says it is going forward with its Courtyard, which will have 140 rooms. The South Carolina developer has not yet closed on the property, which it has had under contract since last fall, but a closing is expected in the next few weeks, according to sources familiar with the deal.
“We’re still within the due diligence time frame of working on our project,” says Bill Fayssoux, an executive with Windsor Aughtry.
With two competing Marriotts within a block of each other and seven hotels altogether, the downtown hotel market will be a competitive one. Though Wampold bills Watermark as a high-end hotel, rates, initially at least, will be in the $150 range, which is competitive with other hotels in the market.
Rates at The Renaissance, by comparison, are in the $180 range, but Wampold says it has taken three years to get the Renaissance rates up to where they need to be, and he expects it also will take time at Watermark.
“You have to start out competitively,” he says. “You can’t price yourself out of the market. But we feel good about our position and the quality of our product. We’re ready to compete.”
See a rendering of the Watermark Baton Rouge.
—Stephanie Riegel
