Progress Report on Saline Hotel: There were a lot of reasons to offer building tours for stockholders this week

View of Rentschler Farm Museum from Saline Best Western Premiere second floor suite — View from second floor suite in Saline Best Western Premier hotel, showcasing Rentschler Farm Museum across East Michigan Avenue. © 2019 d2 Saline, All Rights Reserved. USA

A lot of Saline Journal readers think it’s been too long since our last update on the Best Western Premier (BWP) hotel being built for our community. We do, too. [1,2]

Then Saline Lodging Group announced to stockholders that it would be scheduling formal walk-throughs on Monday and Tuesday of this week to physically report on construction progress. We made arrangements for our block of time on site earlier on day one.

Reasonably anticipated as part of that was the question of when it will officially open for overnight guest stays.

According to general manager Mark Kuykendall, look for that to happen around the start of next school year, plus or minus. That works out to around nineteen months since the deal closed on site property on March 1, 2018. That date was itself at the conclusion of eighteen months in negotiations. [3]

For the benefit of both current interests and to provide another data point to be considered in future city planning on unrelated projects — particularly in situations where the municipality wears the hats of both property seller and government enforcement arm — Saline hotel developers were intially looking to have this project completed before the end of 2018. [4,5]

By mid-January of this year, the target had been revised, to sometime prior to summer. [6]

Put in context, Saline Journal is reminded of our own independent research into the next nearest Michigan Best Western Premier, in Southfield. Although three times larger than the lodging set for East Michigan Avenue, BWP Southfield was a renovation, putting comparison of timelines on more of an equal basis. Their work took three years to complete.

Accordingly, Saline Journal initially estimated twenty-four to thirty months from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting for BWP Saline. [7,8]

None of reported above is out of the ordinary; in fact, to anyone familiar with ground-up construction projects of this magnitude, it’s more common than not to see a number of schedule adjustments made in response to delays for weather, material availability, and labor issues. [9,10]

Mr Kuykendall didn’t need to offer access for two extended stockholder visits to share this information — and most managers wouldn’t have led with it, expansively.

So, was this his opening on Monday?

“I believe in sharing information before it’s asked for,” he responded. “I’ve always been that way. It’s important to be trustworthy.

A lot of people are working seven days a week on this. I’ve been working on it every day for months. Nobody wants to see us open and serving guests more than I do. You don’t make excuses for delays. But you do explain where you are and how you got there. When there’s down time, you look for ways to use that to improve your plans wherever you can.”

This last remark felt like what journalists call “burying the lead.” There are improvements to show stockholders? What improvements? [11,12]

As familiar as anyone may think they are with our coming hotel based on blueprints and presentations, of course, that never comes close to the experience of physically walking within the space.

Yes, it’s interesting to make note of the lobby bar height. The huge glass wall between exercise area and swimming pool that both separates and serves to importantly integrate the two. To have the opportunity to rationalize the necessity of readily accessible rooms dedicated to IT control, laundry service, and HVAC machinery.

More nuanced considerations were pointed out in what was still visible through studded framing in place for drywall, for what went into crafting seven pet-friendly rooms that can be efficiently turned after occupancy by Fido. Without any sign before the next check-in that a canine had ever been in there.

Suppose our convenient Eastgate dog wash right across the street at Wags to Whiskers will be featured on guest services monitors here as yet another local amenity? [13]

The Saline Journal update two days ago differed from that of stockholder groups in that we were on site Monday morning, one-on-one. It would therefore depend on any given audience interest as to whether or not their content got into such matters as extended efforts undertaken by BWP Saline to structure the shower in one of its first floor guest rooms not just in accordance with ADA standards, but to the higher Best Western Premier requirements for accommodating the needs of those with disabilities. [14]

Beyond this, Mark Kuykendall has often talked expansively about making his hotel a richly appointed reflection of the Saline community, and to do so as widely so as practical. We’ve helped illustrate the possibilities of this for our readers through coverage of Best Western approaches elsewhere. [15]

It was additionally clear that “seeing is believing” can’t be dismissed as cliché here.

More than working extensively with local partners on construction and talking to local artists to make sure we have the right images on our walls, this hotel is arranged as a whole to spotlight many of the various faces that define “Saline.” The view from no two rooms is exactly alike — looking out deliberately oversized windows.

One third-floor suite faces a buzz of industrial activity. Other rooms remind visitors of access to the variety of professional offerings as close as the neighboring office complex. Elsewhere, an overview of a Washtenaw County take on the magnificent mile (and more), through this gateway, headed west to downtown Saline. Incredibly, there’s a second-floor suite may well provide the best view anywhere of Rentschler Farm (imagine how much better still once the last of obstructing pole line re-routing has been completed). [16-19]

Finally, those stockholders open to a bit of inside baseball had a chance to see signature “Mark Kuykendall” touches, evident of the value of having a lifelong hotelier serving as point person on this project. [20]

When tours are offered to the general public this summer, others may take note of how the elevator can be reconfigured for unobtrusive staff versus public use. Ask how used linens are removed from the upper floors without guests ever seeing them.

Tell the person leading your group through the marvels within that you’ve heard that there’s a secret passageway connecting kitchen and ballroom, and that you want to see it.

“Part of running a class hotel is being able to do our jobs here quickly and efficiently with minimal distraction to what our guests are doing here,” Mr Kuykendall said in summary. Reminiscent of the fabled utilidors of Disney World. [21]

And what would a high-end hotel be without celebrity guests?

On Monday, Mark Kuykendall walked Saline Journal through the logistics of private access and security setups to accommodate their more elaborate needs for safety, privacy, and support personnal. Famous sports and political figures immediately come to mind. But as a practical matter, this sort of arrangement will make the Best Western Premier hotel in Saline better suited to support the off-site meeting facility needs of corporate multinationals with important facilities here in town as well.

Anyone reading this is no doubt eager to see all of the above made available to guests who can book rooms starting tonight. The stockholders with whom we’ve had contact are as well.

But they’ve also said they wouldn’t be surprised if bit more time is tacked onto the latest completion date projections. So be it.

References