Food & Beverage Services - Success Stories

Proximity Hotel & Print Works Bistro, Greensboro, NC - Consulting Services and Appraisals

Project

A successful hotel and restaurant company desired to develop a "green" hotel and restaurant abundant with sustainable practices without sacrificing guests' comfort. This was the vision of Dennis Quaintance, who previously had developed the highly successful O.Henry hotel in Greensboro, NC. Initially, the client sought strategic consulting services with regard to the development of both the hotel and restaurant concepts. As the project advanced, the client needed to obtain appraisals of the hotel and restaurant for financing of the project.

The HVS Assignment

HVS Food & Beverage Services-Denver began work on this assignment in 2004 and performed services through the successful opening of the hotel and restaurant in October 2007. During this engagement, Richard Williams, MAI assisted the developer initially by performing strategic consulting services during the developer’s brainstorming and refining of the concept, and later by performing appraisals of the proposed hotel and restaurant for financing purposes. HVS Food & Beverage Services–Denver was selected because of Dick Williams' expertise in both restaurants and hotels.

Results

The Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro restaurant opened in October 2007. The hotel contains 147 rooms, 7,300 square feet of event space, and is adjacent to the Print Works Bistro restaurant and bar. The hotel was designed to look like a 1930s cut-and-sew factory with 10-foot ceilings in the guestrooms, but is one of the first hotels in the United States to implement practices that will make it eligible for LEED Gold Certification. Included in its list of sustainable practices are the following:

• Use about 40% of the electricity and natural gas of a conventional hotel by using ultra efficient materials and systems, along with the latest construction technology.
• Utilize the sun's energy to heat hot water with 100 solar panels covering the 4,000 sq ft of rooftop (enough hot water for 100 average households).
• Take advantage of abundant natural lighting with large energy-efficient "operable" windows (7'4" square windows in guest rooms).
• Connect guests to the outdoors by achieving a direct line of sight to the outdoor environment for more than 90% of all regularly occupied spaces.
• Use building materials with recycled content, such as gypsum, concrete, steel, sheetrock, masonry and carpet. 
• Recycle 75% of construction waste, diverting it from landfills.
• Reduce water usage by 35% by installing high-efficiency plumbing fixtures.
• Improve air quality by circulating large amounts of outside air into guestrooms and doing so in an energy efficient way by employing "energy recovery" technology where the outside air is tempered by the air being exhausted from the hotel.
• Restore 700 linear feet of stream by reducing erosion, planting local, adaptable plant species and rebuilding the buffers and banks.
• Use regional vendors for materials to reduce transportation and packaging.
• Utilize low-emitting volatile organic compound (VOC) paints, adhesives, carpets, etc to reduce indoor air contamination.  
• Offer bicycle storage and shower facilities for staff members and guests. Bicycles will be available for guests to ride on the nearby five-mile greenway.
• Install North America's first Otis Gen2 elevator which will generate electricity as the cab descends by using a regenerative drive.
• Use tabletops in the Bistro made of salvaged, solid walnut trees that came down through sickness or storm and room service trays made of Plyboo (bamboo plywood).
• Use guest-room shelving made of walnut SkyBlend, particleboard made from 100% post-industrial recycled wood pulp with no added formaldehyde.
• Become an "Education Center" for sustainable practices with tours for guests and outreach programs for students of all ages.