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The Georgia International Convention Center(GICC) in Atlanta will soon have two new adjacent hotels in addition to a one-million-square foot, mixed use complex adjacent to it. The Gateway Center, which includes a 403-room Marriottand 147-room Spring Hill Suites and eventually office buildings and retail stores, is currently under construction—official ground breaking ceremonies are expected in October—and the two new hotels are expected to open in 2010.

Gateway Center and GICC are located a quarter-mile from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airportand a few steps from the first station on the airport’s expanded Automated People Mover (APM) system, currently under construction and which is the first expansion of the airport’s internal transit system. The APM also will connect the airport to a consolidated car rental area, CONRAC, just west of Gateway Center and the airport.

"These two new Marriott hotels are perfectly positioned to serve both the convention and business meeting audience as well as the general public traveling through the Atlanta airport," said Roger Conner, Vice President of Corporate Communications, Marriott International. "When you add in this amazing location with easy access via the new APM and the modern, environmentally sensitive design, then you have a winning formula for all the partners involved."

The two hotels are part of Phase One of the project, which represents $134 million investment by Grove Street, an Atlanta-based Real Estate development, management and leasing company, and its investment partners. "In a year when few mixed-use projects have been financed, we’ve been able to overcome significant obstacles and break ground on this development," said Kevin Kern, President of Grove Street Partners.

The Georgia International Convention Center is considered the state’s second largest convention facility, featuring 400,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including 150,000 square feet of exhibit space, and a 40,000-square-foot ballroom. The Gateway Center’s seven-story, full-service convention Marriott hotel will include 20,000 square feet of meeting and ballroom space in addition to a Marriott-branded restaurant and a third-party restaurant to be named later. The latest "Generation Four" design of the Spring Hill Suites will be the first LEED-certified facility in its family of hotels.

"Grove Street’s environmentally sensitive development advances our mission to provide a world-class destination for conventions and other events," said Hugh Austin, Executive Director of the GICC. "Our access to CONRAC and our location on the APM makes GICC one of the most desirable and efficient convention centers in the nation."

"The introduction of these new hotels and restaurants adjacent to the existing convention center is the first critical step in the evolution of the Gateway Center as a vibrant, mixed use destination," Kern said. "Add to that the new transit links to the airport terminal and CONRAC and you have all the ingredients for sustained success."