A hotel in SouthPark this week reached a construction milestone: the completion of vertical development.
On Thursday, JWM Family Enterprises celebrated the topping out of the AC Marriott SouthPark, an eight-story, 162-room hotel under construction at Rexford and Roxborough roads, adjacent to the existing Charlotte Marriott SouthPark. JWM Family Enterprises — a private hotel venture of Marriott that’s based in Bethesda, Maryland, where Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) is also headquartered — owns both the Marriott and nearby Renaissance Charlotte SouthPark and expects to deliver the $35 million AC Hotel in October.
Lou Paladeau, vice president of operations at JWM Family Enterprises, said the AC Hotel is the group’s first ground-up construction project and that renovations recently wrapped up at the Marriott SouthPark and are currently underway at the Renaissance SouthPark.
“We are incredibly pleased that we chose fantastic partners to work with us through this process,” Paladeau said. “We are really looking forward to having a beautiful new addition to our campus.”
Chris Frye, partner at Barringer Construction (the project’s general contractor), said Barringer “couldn’t be more pleased” with the trade partners on the AC Hotel project.
“Despite significant weather events, we have managed to stay on course and deliver the standard of quality our clients expect,” Frye said.
Because the adjacent Marriott hotel is fully operational and the high volume of traffic in the SouthPark area, Barringer Construction developed a virtual model in preconstruction to illustrate all phases and expected areas of impact during construction. Phasing, logistics and communication plans were developed based on that model.
The AC Marriott SouthPark, expected to be a four-star hotel, will include features like waterfall walk-in showers, ergonomic furnishings, an upscale lounge, event space, a 24-hour fitness center and floor-to-ceiling windows. The project also includes a two-story parking deck.
This will be Charlotte’s second AC Hotel. Last year, a 184-room AC Hotel opened in uptown as part of a dual-branded project that also included a 116-room Residence Inn above the EpiCentre.
LS3P Associates is the architect at the AC Marriott SouthPark.