Horst Schulze, who helped build the Ritz-Carlton brand, hopes to bring similar cachet to a new luxury hotel planned near Porsche’s North American headquarters next to the Atlanta airport.
Schulze’s Atlanta-based Capella Hotel Group will build a 214-room Solis Hotel that will include a rooftop lounge with panoramic views of the driving course at the nearby Porsche Experience Center.
“We are proud to be part of the unique and legendary experience Porsche creates for its customers,” Schulze, Capella Hotel Group chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We will add a sophisticated hotel to the complex that reflects the high standards of excellence for which Porsche is renowned.”
It will be the first hotel the brand has built in its hometown since Capella was launched in 2002. Solis Hotels have opened in China, Ireland and Russia.
The Solis will break ground in late March and open some time in 2017, officials said Wednesday. In addition to the Atlanta hotel, the company plans to open a 27-story property next summer in Orlando.
The Solis is latest hotel addition to the area around Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which is seeing a boom of economic development. London-based InterContinental Hotels Group, whose North America headquarters is in Atlanta, plans to build a luxury InterContinental Hotel that would be the airport’s first on-site lodging.
“This is certainly a bold and pioneering move,” Paul Breslin, managing director of hospitality consultancy Howarth HTL, said of the project.
He said luxury brands had been wary of building near the airport because daily room rates historically have been low. That has changed since the 2010 arrival of the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway.
“As long as the volume keeps increasing at the airport there will be enough people to pay the higher room rates” at the luxury airport properties, he said.
Located at Two Porsche Drive on the east side of Hartsfield-Jackson, the Solis also will include 6,500 square feet of event space and a 3,600-square-foot ballroom.
The hotel will be designed by HOK Architects firm, which also designed the Porsche North America headquarters. Peter Silling & Associates will craft the hotel’s interior design.
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