JQH Hotels plans $2M University Plaza upgrades

On the heels of completing the first phase of renovations at John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts’ downtown Oklahoma City property, company officials are working on designs for more than $2 million in improvements of University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in downtown Springfield.

JQH Hotels’ Senior Vice President of Operations Joe Morrissey this morning said the Springfield-based hotel owner and operator has budgeted to spend $50 million in capital improvements across its 73-property portfolio. The three decades old University Plaza will undergo interior and exterior upgrades, Morrissey said, noting the architecture and design team was still finalizing plans.

“That hotel is very important to our CEO [Jacquie Dowdy], to our company, to the city – it’s a part of Mr. [John Q.] Hammons. We’re all very involved in that,” added Vice President of Sales and Revenue Management Phill Burgess, during a conference call with Springfield Business Journal.

In Oklahoma City, JQH Hotels has invested $2 million in the 225-room Courtyard by Marriott and a second phase is scheduled to begin in August. The eight-floor hotel, near the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chesapeake Energy Arena, updated its guest rooms with new carpet, furnishings and fixtures, and made cosmetic changes to portions of its 5,000 square feet of convention space, according to a news release. The facelift included 31,000 square yards of recycled wall vinyl and enabled the hotel to donate more than 1,000 pieces of guest room furniture.

“Being a good steward of the environment is a part of the John Q. Hammons’ legacy of excellence,” property manager Rex Amsler said in the release. “It was especially rewarding for the hotel to have the opportunity to make a difference in the community by repurposing numerous pieces of hotel furniture with neighboring nonprofits.”

Phase II plans include makeovers of the hotel’s common areas, meeting space and fitness center to adopt the Courtyard brand’s redesigned Refreshing Business Concept model. The lobby will add a Starbucks cafe, a 57-inch touchscreen TV to navigate local information and private media booths with 20-inch LCD TVs.

After building more than 30 hotels since 2004, JQH officials have slowed new development and focused on capital improvements. Morrissey said projects in development for 2013 range from $50,000 to $6 million, citing an 18-month renovation of the Holiday Inn Portland (Ore.) Airport that will exceed $8 million and wrap up this year. Others on the docket are second phases in Sioux Falls, S.D., and North Charleston, S.C., as well as project starts in Junction City, Kan., Tulsa, Okla., and Richardson, Texas.

JQH Hotels has a portfolio of 78 properties representing such brands as Embassy Suites, Hilton, Holiday Inn and Sheraton with nearly 19,000 guest rooms in 24 states.

In late 2010, company founder John Q. Hammons stepped down as CEO to tend to health concerns and moved into The Manor at Efindale nursing home. Hammons turns 94 on Feb. 24.