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First Hyatt in Western Michigan a
LEED Prototype
Business Review, Olivia Pulsinelli, August 28, 2008 - The first Hyatt Place in western
Michigan also
will be the first LEED-certified location in the hotel chain.
The external structure of the Hyatt Place Grand Rapids/Wyoming is complete, General
Manager Bo Schmitz said. The building is 80 percent enclosed, with only the windows
left to install.
"It's going very smoothly," Schmitz said of the construction process. He expects the
five-story, 73,084-square-foot hotel, located at Metro Health Village in Wyoming, to
open around Nov. 10.
Prins Construction & Development in Holland selected the location for the hotel,
which is owned by the Oxford Development Company of Pittsburgh.
The Wyoming hotel will contain 113 rooms and look the same as other Hyatt Place
locations, while incorporating many green features. There will be sensors in the public
areas of the hotel to limit energy consumption during non-peak hours, and sensors in
the guest rooms will enable energy-saving measures to kick in upon guests' checkout.
Control-flow shower heads will be installed, and a green housekeeping program will
encourage guests to reuse towels and sheets.
LEED certification was a requirement laid down by developer the Granger Group for
building the Hyatt at Metro Health Village, but the hotel's green features extend
beyond the minimum LEED standards.
"There are certain things we have to do for certification, but it's also open to innovation,
to create our own programs," Schmitz said.
A hybrid Saturn Vue will replace a traditional shuttle as the guest courtesy vehicle.
Schmitz said the company recently began investigating the possibility of purchasing
a wind turbine to supplement the hotel's energy.
Hotel management also is working to establish an outreach program with area schools
that would include an on-site tour explaining LEED.
"We'll have a hotel info channel to help educate them about how they can incorporate
the green lifestyle at home," Schmitz said. "We want to act as a liaison from the green
trend to a green lifestyle."
As the first LEED-certified Hyatt, this location will be the model for future green Hyatts.
"Hyatt is very open to understanding the LEED requirements, but we still had to fit
with all the Hyatt standards," Schmitz said.
For example, the natural stone Hyatt uses on the exterior of its other locations did not
meet the LEED standard that requires materials to originate from no more than 500
miles away, so the corporation approved a similar looking stone, Schmitz said.
Local businesses have been receptive to the green hotel, said Amanda Volkers, director
of sales and marketing.
"They're concerned with the same things we're concerned with," she said of other
LEED-certified businesses. "The response has been very positive."
