The Braves and Omni Hotels & Resorts yesterday announced a 50-50 partnership "for a 16-floor, 260-room hotel overlooking the new SunTrust Park," according to a front-page piece by Ricky Leroux of the MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL. Omni officials said that the hotel "would also include rooftop hospitality suites, about 12,500 square feet of meeting space, a two-story restaurant and an elevated pool deck and bar overlooking the new ballpark." Braves Chair & CEO Terry McGuirk expects construction of the hotel and most of the rest of the mixed-use development will "be complete" by Opening Day '17, but there "might be some interior work left to do before guests can stay the night." Omni President Mike Deitemeyer said that the facade of the building "will be complete by SunTrust Park’s first pitch, but the interior will not." This "isn’t the first project Omni has taken on near a professional sports stadium." TRT Holdings Chair & CEO Bob Rowling, whose company owns Omni, said that the company's San Diego hotel "has a walkway leading" to Petco Park and has recently entered into a partnership with the Cowboys to build a 300-room hotel in their new mixed-use development (MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL, 4/29). In Atlanta, Amy Wenk noted Omni "has 60 hotels and resorts in North America, including the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center." The deal "comes a month after the Braves announced a major partnership with Comcast, which will anchor a new nine-story office tower at SunTrust Park where it will house about 1,000 employees" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/28).
