NEW YORK—With eco-friendly hotels in various stages of design and construction across the city, New York’s hotel scene is finally going “green”—and Manhattan-based Stonehill & Taylor is heavily involved. With no less than four LEED-certified hotel projects on the boards, the firm is working on a greater number of green hotels than any other in the city. Stonehill & Taylor’s specialty is incorporating state-of-the-art technologies, materials, and techniques into its fashion-forward hotel designs. Stonehill & Taylor is at work on the following LEED-seeking or LEED-certified hospitality projects in New York: • The NoMad Hotel (fall 2009); • Crosby Street Hotel (fall 2009); • The 94th Street...

GUANGZHOU, CHINA—Mayland Seaside Hotel, a five-star hotel project to be situated along the Zhujiang River, will feature an architecture style focused on sensibility to social responsiveness, energy use, urbanism and ecological awareness. The hotel is currently in the design phase and is due to be completed in 2012-2013, according to Narendra Patel, Patel Architecture, Rancho Mirage, Calif. The design provides for wind turbines on the upper portion of the tower and a massive array of photovoltaic panels covering the entire south façade. In the basement is a provision to incorporate a fuel cell power generator that would run on clean...

ST. AUGUSTIN-DE-DESMAURES, QUEBEC—Preverco, a leading manufacturer of high-end, Canadian hardwood flooring, announced that it has established a Green Policy and become FSC certified. Recognizing the importance and responsibility of doing their part to help protect the environment and conserve the Earth’s natural resources, Preverco has set forth guidelines to reduce the company’s environmental impact and ensure that the company’s activities and products are environmentally sound, from the earliest stages of product design through manufacturing, use and recycling. Although hardwood floors are by definition greener than any other floor covering, the objective of Preverco’s Green Policy is to further attain...

ATLANTA—The Emory Conference Center Hotel is in the final phase of a major renovation and expansion that was started in March 2008. The multi-million dollar expansion is expected to be completed in May of this year and includes a new five-story structure to be certified LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council. The new building is connected to the existing hotel by a pedestrian bridge and includes 127 new guestrooms, 6,000 square feet of additional meeting space, and a six-lane bowling alley with retro decor that includes a full bar and game...

HOLLAND, MICH.—CityFlats Hotel is one of three new construction hotels in the world to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification in the Hotel/Resort Category. CityFlats, located on the corner of 7th St. and College Ave. in downtown Holland, is also the first hotel in the Midwest to be awarded this certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). According to USGBC, LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project is environmentally...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces the opening of Element Houston Vintage Park, the first Element hotel to open in Texas. Inspired by Westin Hotels & Resorts, Element invites guests to check in to a new travel experience with comfortable public spaces, modern style and eco-friendly design. Owned by Condor Hospitality, LLC and managed by InterMountain Management, LLC of Louisiana, the newly constructed, 123-room hotel is a key part of the new Vintage Park lifestyle center located in bustling northwest Houston. The general contractor for the Element is Benchmark Development Corp. of Dallas. This is the...

LAS VEGAS—Hospitality Design magazine’s 2009 Exposition & Conference will include a Green Day once again. It will be held on May 13, a day before the May 14 to 16 Exposition & Conference, at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Green Day is one of the hospitality industry’s leading events focused on education, idea exchange, and marketplace trends related to sustainable design and operations. New this year, Green Day will exceed the annual AIA sustainable design mandatory continuing education requirement. Green Day will include sessions focusing on sustainability strategies, third-party product certification and what some of...

Are you unhappy with the rate of employee participation in the green initiatives at your property? You have done everything you can to make the programs work but are just not getting enough buy-in? Too many don’t recycle? Too many room attendants replace towels and linens even when guests say it is O.K. not to? You may want to try what the green team at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge is doing. As part of an ongoing educational effort to make all current and new employees aware of the many green programs under way at the property, employees are asked to...

NEW YORK CITY—Sina Pearson Textiles, contemporary designer/manufacturer of upholstery fabrics, introduces its latest sustainable collection: Earthy Greens. The collection is comprised of two complementary patterns: Big Dots and Eco-Pile. Big Dots features a dramatic all-over polka dot motif, with two-and-a-half-inch spheres floating above a subtle multi-colored stripe ground. Metallic yarn woven into the dots adds a night-sky, planetary gleam. It is available in six saturated colorways: olive with brown, orange with red, purple with brown, blue with charcoal, teal with olive, and taupe with brown. Big Dots incorporates Crypton Green technologies. Woven of post-consumer recycled polyester, the manufacture...

DALLAS—Motel 6 recently announced the opening of its 1000th Motel 6/Studio 6 property and the first corporately-built and owned location to feature the new “Phoenix” room design. The property in Biloxi, Miss., showcases the chain’s room of the future, with a modern, European boutique-style design. This event also represents a rebirth for Motel 6 in Biloxi, as the original location was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In addition to its modern styling, the Phoenix design also incorporates a number of green and environmentally friendly features, such as wood-effect laminate flooring made of 80 percent pre-consumer recycled material, as well...