New Hilton hotel brand headed to Charlotte

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Hilton Worldwide announced a new hotel brand on Oct. 15 called Canopy, and one of the first 11 of these hotels will be in Charlotte.

Levine Properties will be Hilton’s local partner for the project, and the hotel will be built on the developer’s 23 acres of land in the city’s First Ward.

Barney Bishop of Finn Partners, a public relations agency representing Hilton, said details concerning the size and location of the hotel will be revealed in the coming weeks. But he did say that Charlotte’s Canopy will include free Wi-Fi, a café, and a gift shop, and will offer local beer, wine and spirits in the evenings.

Hilton’s Canopy brand will redefine the “lifestyle category around the mindset of today’s leisure and business travelers,” according to the announcement.

Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta made the announcement at the company’s Global Partnership Conference in Orlando, Fla.

“We identified the need to take the emphasis off of capital-intensive design and deliver exactly what the target consumer desires: an energizing, comfortable stay with more included value,” Nassetta said in the announcement.

The announcement came less than a month after Daniel Levine’s company held a groundbreaking ceremony for its long-anticipated First Ward project, in which Levine hopes to create an urban mixed-used development.Levine’s First Ward Park adjacent to UNC Charlotte’s Center City Campus is the first of many phases planned for the project.

“Hilton’s selection of Charlotte as one of only 11 markets for its new lifestyle brand, Canopy, is further evidence that the Queen City is a national draw,” Levine said in a statement. “Levine Properties is looking forward to delivering more hotel rooms to the center city, specifically the new First Ward urban district, to help Charlotte attract more business, tourism and special events.”

Levine recently requested a building permit for the First Ward Park valued at more than $7.5 million for infrastructure. Rodgers Builders, the general contractor for the park, has begun removing the streets and parking lots on the site, and started bringing in dirt for raising the park and the surrounding streets, according to Levine Properties spokeswoman Colleen Brannan of Branstorm PR.

The other 10 cities that Hilton is building Canopy hotels in are Portland, Ore.; Miami; San Diego; Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; Indianapolis; Oklahoma City; Ithaca, N.Y.; Washington, D.C. and London.