So, I was driving down the road the other day and noticed that a building I've been watching go up was finished. Located near our 1.6 million square foot mall is a brand new Hyatt Place.
Now, a new hotel in suburbia is nothing new. In fact, there's been explosive growth in the suburban hotel market over the past decade or so. It's just that most of these hotels have a decidedly suburban look - Mediterranean, Colonial, Craftsman - like an overgrown production home.
This time, though, the folks at Hyatt have been opening some of their "Hyatt Place" branded properties with a look right out of the urban core - modern, sleek, with a ground floor that looks like it could contain store-fronts.
I have mixed feelings about this. One one hand, I think it's great that companies are recognizing consumer preference leaning toward the urban. This is apparent not only in Hyatt Place's facade, but in the Smart car, clothing styles, and the rising popularity of loft-style interiors.
On the other hand, the styling of this hotel does nothing to change the suburban landscape. It still requires a car to access it. There's no public transportation that can effectively get you to or from anywhere useful. It's 1/2 mile to get to the mall I mentioned, because of a massive retaining wall between the two, even though it's only 1/10 of a mile as the crow flies.
Here's hoping that, as the economics of new development return, we see a shift to more urban development - mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented development.
