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Dear Friends,   ODA Architecture’s annual retreat in September was centered on “rejuvenation” as everyone has been working tirelessly through a very productive year. We selected Asheville, NC as our destination and stayed at The Foundry Hotel, which is part of The Curio Collection by Hilton, managed by our client, Raines Hospitality. This repurposed hotel was once a steel […]

Transforming existing structures into hotels has been a popular strategy for many years, but what options do hotel owners have when their properties are no longer in workable use? Unfortunately, the pandemic left countless hotels underutilized or obsolete. Many of these hotels are in changing urban neighborhoods and can be repurposed to suit the needs of their evolving communities.

One of the hottest trends in the hotel industry is repurposing buildings for hotel use. Transforming existing buildings makes economic sense and can enhance the guest experience. Many building types are appropriate candidates for conversions to hotels, but the most opportunities are discovered in office buildings. According to CBRE, there currently is more than a 17% vacancy rate in office buildings, the highest vacancy rate since 1993. Developers are looking for different uses to breathe new life into these structures. If positioned in appropriate locations, hoteliers can creatively adapt these structures into hotels, including limited-service, full-service, and boutique hotels.

Dear Friends,   Self-Storage Facilities have been a favorite project type of ODA Architecture for over 40 years.  It has been exciting to experience the evolution of this phenomenon.  Why has self-storage continued to gain popularity in the last 25 years?  What are current and future trends that are to be anticipated? Last week, we enjoyed discussing these questions

Dear Friends,  ODA Architecture became immersed in Hospitality Design in the 1990s.  When we started this journey, we had many mentors, but we learned the most from Denu P. Rama.  DP was an architect by education and was an owner in JHM Hotels, currently Auro Hotels, one of the largest privately owned hospitality companies in the country.   Instead of explaining hotel operations,

Dear Friends,For several months, we have discussed various services that ODA Architecture provides to complement our core design services. This month, we will discuss our services in obtaining Design Review Committee (DRC) approvals. These committees can be self-serving, but have goals to improve the built environment and their advice is often valuable to the local community. ODA Architecture works closely

ODA Architecture offers specialty services that complement our core architectural design and are beneficial to the project’s success. We value being part of a project’s site selection and rezoning process to capture the developer’s vision and create contextually appropriate buildings that will be successful for decades. One of the most important aspects of a successful project is the selection

The most important aspect of every project is the vision of a thoughtful Master Plan.  A well-conceived and efficient master plan of a development can save millions of dollars.  A sensitively designed master plan, whether one-half acre or 200 acres, should tell a meaningful “story”.   Architect Daniel Burnham summed it up best when he stated, “Make no little plans.  They have

ODA Architecture has been innovators in storage design for 40 years. I met Steve Benson, founder of Morningstar Storage, in 1983. Mr. Benson was one of the original innovators of the storage industry, a business that had been typified as a male-oriented “dirty” use. In 1979, Steve Benson moved south to Charlotte the same year that I moved north