Dutch hotel chain breaks ground in Texas with new $67M tower

Move over, Citizen Kane.

Dutch hotel chain CitizenM is moving into Texas with a $67 million hotel tower it’s developing in downtown Austin, the state’s capital city, news outlet Culturemap Austin reported. The Amsterdam-based company recently broke ground on the 17-story building at 617 Colorado Street, currently a parking lot.

New York-based Turnbridge Equities is developing the hotel with CitizenM. A 2020 filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration put the cost of the project at $67 million, according to CultureMap.

CitizenM Hotels is one of a growing number of hospitality brands positioned to court travelers with what it calls “frictionless” interactions, app-based transactions, environments in central urban locations with numerous transportation options, colorful modern design and nods to sustainability and social change via its CitizenMovement Foundation. Its Austin amenities will include a gym, a pool and a rooftop bar. Guests can control their high-definition televisions (with streaming options), blinds, lights, and thermostats with their smartphones or tablets.

The architect on the project is Baskervill, based in Richmond, Virginia. Amsterdam-based firm Concrete is the Interior designer, and Denver-based Design Workshop is the landscape architect. Rhode Island-based Gilbane is the general contractor.

CitizenM has hotels in major cities in the United States, Europe and Asia. It plans to continue its expansion and aims to have 40 hotels up and running in the next two years. The Austin hotel will be its first in Texas (or in any non-coastal US city, for that matter—although it does have plans for Chicago).

Read more

New York

New investor values CitizenM hotel group at $2.6B

South Florida

CitizenM buys hotel portion of Crescent Heights’ 1212 Lincoln project

[CultureMap] — Cindy Widner