FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—Greater Fort Lauderdale officials have named Hilton the winner in a competitive field of hoteliers seeking to build a 1,000-room anchor hotel for the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center. Scheduled to be built on the northern edge of Port Everglades adjacent to the 600,000-square-foot convention center, the much-anticipated property will be Greater Fort Lauderdale’s largest hotel and increase its attractiveness as a destination for large conferences, trade shows and other events. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2012.
The Broward Convention Center hosts approximately 280 events per year, and the new hotel is seen as a means of increasing both the number and scope of events held there. Hilton’s plan is for a 27-story building, designed by Arquitectonica, rising in a series of waves toward the waterfront. All rooms will have a view of the Intracoastal Waterway. The hotel will include an infinity-edge pool overlooking the water, outdoor dining, 12,000-square-foot spa and 50,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space is also planned. The Hilton hotel is expected to be a silver-certified LEED project (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) for its commitment to protection and enhancement of the environment. Negotiations for the project began November 8.
“The Broward County Commission has created real excitement in our community and in the meetings industry,” says Nicki E. Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. “In selecting Hilton and starting the process of achieving a dedicated anchor hotel for our renowned Convention Center, Greater Fort Lauderdale has addressed what was perhaps its most urgent need—a reliable, ultra-convenient hotel for convention and event attendees while doing business in the destination. This goes a long way toward bolstering Greater Fort Lauderdale’s attractiveness to meeting planners and their clientele, and ensuring that conferences regularly held here do not outgrow our hotel infrastructure.”
The property will rest upon a 33-acre swath of land occupied by the Convention Center. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is 1.5 miles from the site. The new hotel also will be especially convenient for cruise vacationers at Port Everglades visiting Greater Fort Lauderdale before or after their vacations at sea.
Hilton was chosen as the winner of the selection process after an evaluation period in which candidates were graded upon, among other considerations, strength of financial package, development program, marketing and promotion resources, management plan and overall capability to service the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.
