1 Hotel recently announced (news) that Portland developer, Paul Brenneke has sold his interest in the project to its partner, Starwood Capitol Group. With 100% ownership in the development site, Starwood is working on revising the project. Construction will be on hold and the sales center will be closed until early next year when they will announce their new vision.
This project seems to be taking years to develop. Just a few months ago, we heard they were reducing the number of City Suites in the building. Now, they are going to have another round of redesigns. It looks like the City Suites may not even be offered -- partly due to changes within the commercial guidelines. Frankly, I wonder how many current home buyers will stay with this project after this announcement. Assuming some of them have a longer purchasing time frame, certain home buyers may welcome the delay. For other who have been waiting to see some progress on the development, this may be testing their patience.
Either way, Starwood will also face the challenge of coming up with a blow away idea to retain current purchasers and other home buyers waiting on the fence on this project and at the same time competing with other projects that are beginning construction soon in the downtown and Belltown areas. .
