May 30--From the inside, the new Aloft hotel downtown looks like a mix of midcentury modern and high-tech convenience with touches of industrial style.

From the outside, it looks a lot like the former City Hall.

Aloft Tulsa Downtown, a Starwood property, opened Wednesday in the 11-story building that formerly housed city government.

Turning a municipal building that was built in 1969 into a sleek, modern hotel had its challenges, said Macy Amatucci with Brickhugger LLC, one of the project's developers.

"You're turning something into something completely different," she said.

Because the building has historic preservation status, the floors, ceilings and marble walls in common spaces, as well as the exterior, couldn't be altered.

Yet with the building's existing central elevators and multioffice layout, the conversion "wasn't that complicated," Amatucci said.

The hotel has 184 rooms, but because it was created in an existing building, there are six different room layouts. The top floor, which is where the mayor's offices were located before City Hall's move to One Technology Center at Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue, was converted into suites with full kitchens and state-of-the-art amenities, even down to the bathroom mechanics.

"They're not all the same. You end up with unique spaces," Amatucci said of the rooms. "It's a very different hotel than anything we have downtown."

Another Aloft hotel opened in Tulsa in August 2010 north of 71st Street on the west side of U.S. 169.

To create the new hotel downtown, TOCH LLC purchased the old City Hall site from the city for $1.3 million, and work started on the hotel in 2011.

TOCH is made up of Brickhugger LLC and investors Neal Bhow, Lee Levinson and Bruce Taylor. Brickhugger principals John and Tori Snyder, along with their daughter, Amatucci, also redeveloped the historic Mayo Hotel and the Detroit Lofts downtown.

Roy Chartier, general manager, said the new hotel will employ 35 to 40 people once it's at full staffing levels.

Right now, the main entrance is at the street level off Frisco Avenue.

Once Fifth Street is extended to run beside the building next year, the entry off the plaza will become the main entrance.

The funding is in place for the Fifth Street project, but the construction plans for final review, which were due May 15, have not yet been submitted, according to city officials.

The hotel's development team leased 12 parking spaces along the west side of the building to serve as a fire lane off Fourth Street until Fifth Street is extended.

But because the parking spaces are on an elevated surface, with another level of parking below, the Fire Department required written assurance from an engineer that its trucks would not break through the parking surface and that its ladders would reach the building.

A temporary certificate of occupancy was issued until March 2014, when the Fire Marshal's Office can issue a permanent certificate, Amatucci said.

The new hotel's room rates start at $109 a night, according to Aloft's website. Its design appeals to younger, tech-savvy guests and business travelers, with Wi-Fi throughout the property, Tulsa information loaded onto tablet computers in the lobby, and easy access to the Tulsa Convention Center and BOK Center.

Aloft Tulsa Downtown also has the w xyz bar, a small pool called Splash, and a fitness center dubbed Re:Charge, all on the plaza level.

On the lower level are banquet rooms that are still being completed.

The former City Council Chamber will be renovated as a ballroom and banquet space in the future.

Lights have been added to the building's exterior to mirror those at the BOK Center, Amatucci said.

"Seeing it lit up in color, a building that a lot of people wanted torn down -- it's been well worth it," she said.

World Staff Writer Kevin Canfield contributed to this story.

Sara Plummer 918-581-8465 [email protected]

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