LaSalle bails on Chicago hotel plan

Bethesda-based LaSalle Hotel Properties has sold several floors in a landmark Chicago skyscraper it bought two years ago with the intention of converting it into a luxury hotel and will take a loss on the investment.

LaSalle, through a joint venture named Modern Magic Hotel LLC, acquired 12 floors of the 52-story IBM Building at 330 N. Wabash Ave. in March 2008 from Prime Group Realty Trust for $46 million. It was the majority stakeholder in the joint venture, with Oxford OG Hospitality Chicago holding a 5 percent stake.

 Read More:

Baltimore Four Seasons hotel project moving ahead

Baltimore's $197 million Four Seasons Hotel is on target to open by late 2011 with partial financing from the proceeds of $45 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the Maryland Industrial Development Financing Authority.

Representatives for the state and the hotel developers said PNC Bank is purchasing the state-issued bonds and that the proceeds will be loaned to the developer so that it can complete the 18-story, 256-room luxury hotel in Harbor East. Affiliates of John Paterakis' H&S Properties Development Corp. are the developers.

MIDFA held a public hearing on the bond sale Wednesday morning, and the settlement is scheduled for Thursday. According to H&S Vice President Michael Ricketts, the hotel project is expected to create 1,273 construction jobs and 577 full-time jobs.
Read More:

Another Montreal restaurant firebombed

The epidemic of suspicious fires in restaurants and coffee shops continued as the Café Calypso in Montreal North was hit by a firebomb just after midnight very early Wednesday morning.
The café, on Forest St. near the corner of Bellevois St., was empty at the time of the attack and no one was injured.
The attack took place at about 12:50 a.m. when a passerby saw some flames coming out of the building and quickly dialled 9-1-1. Firefighters required little time to get the fire under control, and the damage was limited to the furniture inside.
Firefighters noticed that a heavy object had been thrown through the window of the restaurant to facilitate throwing some sort of firebomb into the restaurant.

Read more:

Building to begin on $8.8 billion Mecca hotel project

The developer of a long-delayed $8.8 billion (Dh32 bn) project in the heart of Mecca has signed a deal to start construction on a large portion of the development.
Saudi Arabia's Jabal Omar Development said it awarded a 3.4 bn riyal ($908 million) contract to Nesma & Partners Construction for the first phase of the project, located on 23 hectares neighboring the Grand Mosque. Nesma was given a 24-month contract to start on a section of the project overlooking Ibrahim al Khalil Street, according to a statement Jabal Omar issued to the Saudi Arabia bourse yesterday.
Plans for the development call for at least three luxury hotels, hundreds of shops and air conditioned prayer facilities for 100,000 worshippers, as well as housing for 87,000 people.

Read More:

Luxury hotel for gay tourism to open in Mexican Caribbean region

Cancun –  A luxury hotel catering exclusively to the male gay tourist trade will open next month near the Tulum archaeological zone on Mexico's Riviera Maya, the facility's general director told Efe on Tuesday.
"The hotel is uniquely for men. That is to say, only homosexual couples are accepted, it's not for women, although among our personnel we have heterosexual men and women and all have received specialized training to avoid having our guests feel uncomfortable or discriminated against," Patrick Lurenz said.
He said that another prohibition will be on men entering the hotel with minors.
Lurenz said that the Adonis Tulum hotel, the first establishment of its kind in the state of Quintana Roo, is now in the last phase of remodeling prior to opening its doors to guests in January.

See related story

Read More:

A Hotel Mogul Gets a Reprieve

Kentucky hotelier Bill Yung III has found a solution to one of his debt problems just weeks after relinquishing control of 14 hotels to a lender, Blackstone Group LP.
Mr. Yung's Columbia Sussex Corp. has lined up loans from Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital Group totaling $206 million to replace debt that came due last July, the companies announced Tuesday. The deal means that 10 hotels pledged as collateral for those loans will remain with Columbia Sussex for another several years.
The loans from Starwood Capital include $192 million in a mortgage and mezzanine loan at an 8% interest rate. Those loans, maturing in January 2016, are tied to eight hotels. In addition, a $14 million, one-year bridge loan averaging a 12% interest rate is tied to two hotels.

Read More:

Hard Rock Hotel guest files suit alleging assault, defamation

A Las Vegas Hard Rock hotel-casino guest is suing the property, charging assault, defamation and false imprisonment over an Oct. 12 incident.
Las Vegas attorney Sigal Chattah said Monday the suit was filed in Clark County District Court in behalf of Ryan Maurer.
The suit says Maurer, a tourist from Minnesota, was awoken at 4 a.m. by hotel security and was detained over mistaken allegations of a domestic disturbance in the room. Maurer says there was no disturbance since he was alone in the room. Maurer says Metro Police later advised him he was being evicted for "failure to comply" and that he was arrested for trespassing.

Read More:

Hotel for the dead opens in Tokyo

TOKYO, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A Tokyo non-profit has opened a storage facility for corpses awaiting funerals. It's billed as a "business hotel for the dead."
The LISS Center Shin-Kiba facility, which is run by funeral-arranging non-profit LISS System, can store up to 37 bodies in rooms with antibacterial lights, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.
The rooms cost $88 per night and the center also offers assistance with arranging for morticians and setting up funerals.

Read More:

Michelin Inspectors: Food Industry Spies

A chef's toughest critic isn't the woman at the corner table who sent back her cod, or the man at table five nibbling on a steak tartar appetizer -- unless one of them is a Michelin inspector. Chances are, they'll never know.

The super secret spies of the restaurant industry, Michelin inspectors are the anonymous, incorruptible keepers of the coveted Michelin star rating. They've been writing anonymous reports of restaurants for over 100 years.
"We say it's a little like the CIA," said inspector "M," with a laugh. She asked that her identity not be revealed. "My whole life is staying under the radar, staying away from cameras, using fake names, trying to sneak in and out of restaurants unnoticed."

Read More:

Mich. woman can sue over toilet paper dispenser

Image via WikipediaA Michigan woman says she can't work or crochet and her bowling game has suffered since her right hand was broken by a toilet paper dispenser in a restaurant bathroom.

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4-3 order, has refused to throw out Sheri Schooley's lawsuit against Texas Roadhouse in suburban Detroit. Liberal justices were in the majority in a decision that raises questions about what businesses need to do to protect themselves from liability in strange situations.

Schooley, 58, acknowledged it's a "bizarre story." She and her husband were out for dinner on New Year's Eve 2007 when she visited the restroom.

Read More:

Danville man's 'exploding' escargot negligence lawsuit dismissed

Image via Wikipedia

Two men who claimed they were scalded by "exploding" escargot at a San Rafael restaurant have been served a court ruling nearly as scathing.

Judge Roy Chernus dismissed "with prejudice" a negligence lawsuit filed by Chadwick St.-OHarra and Steve Righetti, who claimed their snails ruptured at Seafood Peddler last June, splattering their faces and shirts with hot garlic butter.

St.-OHarra also accused restaurant staff of "indifference" and "friggin' rudeness" in the immediate aftermath.
After the restaurant's insurer rejected their claim, the men sued for a $7,500 judgment for alleged negligence, pain and suffering. The defendants were Richard Mayfield and Manuel Camacho, two supervisors at the restaurant.

Chernus heard the case in a small claims trial on Dec. 3 and mailed his decision to the defendants this week. The two-page decision, laced with legal precedent and Latin jargon, said St.-OHarra and Righetti failed to meet their burden of proof.

See previous article

Read More:

Macau dims Sands' sunshine

By all accounts 2010 has been a pretty good year for Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson.

The $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore opened in April and has produced revenues far beyond analysts' expectations. Table games in Pennsylvania added a revenue source to the Sands Bethlehem.

Company President Michael Leven has brought a calming influence to the corporate operation.
And in November, the Nevada Supreme Court threw out a $60 million verdict that a Clark County jury wanted the company pay to a Hong Kong businessman following a lengthy 2008 trial.

Adelson, 77, was the third richest man in America before 2008. But the economy tanked, stock in Las Vegas Sands fell from more than $140 per share to less than $2, and the company had to avoid bankruptcy by restructuring its corporate balance sheet.

Read More:

Spotting corporate espionage

From the top of the Gherkin building in London, Crispin Sturrock points out an anonymous-looking office block in the swirling snow below. “There’s a device in there,” says the chief executive of White Rock Defence Systems, an information security consultancy that helps companies protect themselves against spies. “They’re not clients of ours, but whenever we scan for transmissions in nearby buildings, we pick it up. It’s been there for ages, just streaming information out.” The building in question is bugged with an electronic device transmitting information about one of its tenants. In the era of WikiLeaks, it is tempting to view all leaks as news headlines. But in general, corporate leaks tend to be of interest only to a very small group of people – an organisation’s competitors or potential buyer. “The reasons people engage in competitive information gathering are usually financial gain and leverage,” says Mr Sturrock.

Read More:

Pizza Hut tries to defuse "race" row in UK

A restaurant chain today ordered its staff not to ask for payment before a meal after an incident involving a group of black footballers.
The AFC Bournemouth players were angered after being told to pay the bill before being served with their food at Pizza Hut.
Midfielder Anton Robinson was reportedly told by the restaurant manager that the request was made because of their appearance.
He told the Daily Echo: “We had a good idea what he was getting at. A group of white kids came in straight after us and they weren't asked to pay before they had their food.

Read More:

Spain votes for tough smoking ban

Spanish lawmakers have voted to approve a tough new anti-smoking law, meaning that from 2 January, bars and restaurants will be no-smoking zones.

Smokers will also not be allowed to light up on television broadcasts, near hospitals or in school playgrounds.

The bill, proposed by PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his governing Socialist Party, was passed in the lower house by 189 votes to 154.

Bar and cafe owners fear the law will adversely affect business.

Read More: