Birth Of A Hotel: No Sandy Setbacks On Hotel Construction, At Least In DC


Our featured hotel in the Birth of a Hotel series, Capella Washington, D.C., Georgetown, narrowly escaped major damage during Hurricane Sandy. The hotel secured much of its construction equipment in advance of the storm, as shown in the photo above, but also was lucky to be just before “closing” stage, when the building is finally sealed and the roof finally put into place.Georgetown also escaped much of the predicted damage, as the photo below indicates. While water levels did rise significantly, the nearby waterfront didn’t flood to the extent forecasted.

We can just see a bit more mud than usual in the C&O Canal, behind the hotel.


Compare this situation with that of another hotel in the construction phase, the future Park Hyatt New York. Readers have likely seen the photo of the crane dangling above One 57th. We’re fairly confident that this will delay that hotel’s opening by a few months.

The Birth of a Hotel” is a Gadling-exclusive series that details what happens as a hotel prepares to open. Follow along with the articles and updates at “The Birth Of A Hotel” page, here. We’d also love to hear from you, our readers. If you have a topic about hotel development or trends that you’d love to see explored, email us or leave a comment below.

[Image Credits: CapellaDC, General Manager Alex Obertop, CarolJoynt, JessyeAnne]