Name: Teresa Sanders
Title: President & Owner, InnWorks, Roseville, Minn.
Number of years with her company: 15
Work experience prior to current position: Teresa worked for the USA Group and continues to work for them as secretary/treasurer. The USA Group was formed to create public and private placement offerings of real estate securities. She has also worked for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and CIS Equipment Leasing Corp.
Primary responsibilities: Teresa is responsible for all day-to-day executive and senior management functions over 18 limited-service hotels that generate approximately $10 million in revenues and employ approximately 300 full- and part-time employees.
What she likes most about her work: “Being part of a team of employees who have a lot of heart and who always go the extra mile for guests.”
ROSEVILLE, MINN.—Throughout her career spanning more than 20 years, Teresa Sanders has successfully helped revitalize distressed hotel properties. Now, she is leading efforts to green them. Roseville, Minn.-based InnWorks, of which Sanders is owner and president, is the hotel management company for a four-star hotel project in Birmingham, Ala., that is in pursuit of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
The historic 1926 Federal Reserve building in Birmingham will soon be part of Vantage Hospitality’s Lexington Collection and the only four-star hotel in the downtown area. Phase one will involve restoring the 1926 Federal Reserve building and annex into an office and retail facility, including multiple dining establishments. Phase two will create a new office tower, the top floors of which will be home to a 200-room, environmentally progressive, four-star Lexington Collection Hotel.
The Birmingham property is being developed by Melaver, Inc., Savannah, Ga. Melaver is known for numerous green building projects, including the first LEED-certified McDonald’s restaurant, which is also located in Savannah.
It is anticipated that the Alabama hotel, scheduled to open in 2008/2009, will use 30 percent less energy than the energy code, and likely 40 to 50 percent less energy than the current downtown offices. Tenants and guests will benefit from healthy, non-toxic paints and finishes, and superb ventilation and source control designed for positive indoor air quality.
Sanders says Vantage Hospitality’s Lexington Collection brand was chosen for the project because it gives her company the freedom to make the kinds of design decisions that would not have been possible under a franchise model.
Thoughts on Franchising & Green Hotels
When asked why green hotels tend to be developed outside the franchise structure, Sanders said, “Maybe it does take more of an independent thinker and independent thinkers don’t do as well under franchise conditions.”
In addition to the Birmingham project, InnWorks hopes to help develop a green convention center hotel in Wilmington, N.C. Sanders’ company and another partner, Wilmington-based The Amici Group, have bid on the project. There are currently six bidders.
Sanders says she enjoys working on green hotel projects because they help make people think about what they can do in their own homes to help the environment. At her own home, she says she removed the lawn and planted indigenous prairie grasses that require less water to maintain.
“To the extent that we can work with the environment, and not against it, the better,” she says.
The lodging industry veteran says we all need to be more aware of the amount of waste that we generate.
“Anyone who lives in our modern society has to have an awareness of environmental issues,” Sanders says. “If you are going to be a responsible citizen, you have to think about your impact. Whether you believe global warming is true or not, why squander resources?”
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
