W Hotel Could Be In Philadelphia's Future
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A world-class hotel could be coming to Philadelphia.
Katie Martin with the Mayor's Communication Office confirmed on Thursday that there is talk of a W Hotel coming to the city.
"The W Hotel is a great proposal and the city is having productive conversations with Starwood," Martin said. "No date yet has been set for a groundbreaking, but we're in communications with them and this is just one of a number of hotel proposals the city is working on currently."
Ed Grose, Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, confirmed that Starwood Hotels briefly announced the arrival of a W hotel in Philadelphia.
"It was up last month for a short time," said Grose. "But it was removed pretty quickly, which tells me that it was probably put on the website by mistake."
According to Grose, the site where the hotel could be built is the lot at 1441 Chestnut Street.
"A few years ago," he added. "Intercontinental was looking to build a hotel there, and now I'm hearing Starwood is looking at the site for a W hotel."
But is it all just a rumor?
"I'm sure they're looking at the site," said Grose. "I've been hearing for a while that W is looking at Philadelphia, so I'm sure that it's more than just a rumor, but a lot has to happen between the planning stage and an actual shovel in the ground. I've seen a lot of hotels that were supposed to come to Philadelphia that did not."
In a vague email, Starwood did not confirm or deny plans to build in Philadelphia.
