Renovation of Atheneum, 1001 Woodward getting underway

Dimitrios Papas will begin renovations on two of his downtown properties, the Atheneum Hotel and 1001 Woodward.

Excerpt:

Pressure of competition from new casino hotels and the Westin Book Cadillac
coming on line later this year spurred the decision to renovate now,
Papas said. “The competition hasn’t affected us so far, and we want to
keep it that way; I’d like to stay competitive as downtown Detroit’s
premier hotel.”

John Hutar, vice president of hotel operations at MGM Grand Detroit Casino & Hotel, sees the Atheneum upgrade as beneficial competitive synergy.

“We
applaud Jim for seeing that we need to work together as a community,
making Detroit a more viable and competitive destination,” Hutar said.

“By
increasing our inventory of rooms, we can compete for larger
conventions that we’ve missed until now because we didn’t have
capacity,” he said.

Read the entire article here.