Boutique in Waco: The landmark Geyser Ice building in downtown Waco, Texas, will become a boutique hotel called The Geyser. Diamante Development purchased the building for about US$400,000 and wants to include a 60-room hotel, restaurant, live entertainment space and some retail.
Mandalay brand flip: Hilton signed a management agreement with Eden Hotels & Resorts to rebrand the Sedona Hotel Mandalay in Mandalay, Myanmar, to the Hilton Mandalay in Q4 2017.
Mandarin in Caribbean: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will rebrand and manage a luxury hotel of 26 suites and 12 villas currently operating on Canouan Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, starting November 1. Formerly known as the Pink Sands Club, it’s the company’s first property in the Caribbean.
GOP supports Trump (hotel): The Republican National Committee paid Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., US$122,000 in July for a fundraiser the group held in June, according to the U.S. Federal Election Commission. That’s part of a total of US$1.3 million spent by GOP groups at Trump entities this year, according to the Washington Post.
Read more in the Washington Post
Hotel in Koreatown: Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood will replace a parking lot with a new hotel that will open in 2020.
Read the story in Curbed Los Angeles
New life for Blockbuster site: A 13-story building will be built on the site of a demolished Blockbuster as part of an AU$80 million (US$63.4 million) mixed-use development in the Brisbane, Australia, suburb of Fortitude Valley.
Read more in the Brisbane Times