To accommodate the increased demand from business travelers created by the expansion of the convention center, the city plans to add 1,500 hotel rooms by 2014.
Currently under construction in the historic Lafayette Building along Independence Mall in the heart of the historic district is the 270-room Hotel Monaco by Kimpton, which is expected to open in the third quar- ter of 2012. For Kimpton, this is its second investment in the city. In October 2009, Kimpton opened the 230-room, four-star Palomar in the former Architects Building - another adaptive-reuse project.
The first ground-up hotel to be built in Philadelphia since the year 2000 will be a new Hilton Home2 Suites extended-stay property with 246 suites located diagonally across from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Reading Terminal Market. The $60 million hotel will feature 9,750-square feet of retail space on street level and 2,000 square feet of meeting space when it opens, expected in late 2013.
In the University City section of Philadelphia, a 130-room Homewood Suites also is under construction. Its com- pletion is expected in the spring of 2012.
Another new addition to the city, Lenfest Plaza at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), adds to the already cul- turally rich convention center district. This open-air piazza debuted in October of 2011, and is located directly across from the new Broad Street entrance of the expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The new Lenfest Plaza is a metropolitan oasis filled with public art, trees and - com- ing soon - interactive, changing exhibits. New cafés and restaurants also are planned additions, making this an ideal location for a break during a meeting or convention.
The centerpiece of the plaza is a massive and impressive sculpture by Claes Oldenburg. A 51-foot high fiberglass Paint Torch, it leans at a gravity-defying 60- degree angle and points passersby toward the city’s famed “Museum Mile” along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which includes
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