April 18--The DoubleTree by Hilton opened Wednesday in downtown Montgomery, and the city already is working to bring in another hotel nearby where the State House Inn was.

General manager Tom Quatrochi said the DoubleTree wouldn't start advertising nationwide until July, but it's now accepting guests and that more than 60 people were staying in the 131-room hotel Monday night.

The original plan was to reopen the former Madison Hotel last fall after about $1.5 million in upgrades. But the project expanded into a massive modernization effort, delaying it for months and costing about $13 million in all, Quatrochi said.

Guests who enter the hotel are greeted by a gleaming, 80-foot-tall lobby with a floor-to-ceiling mural that was hand-assembled in pieces. The design pulls from outdoor themes with Middle Eastern influences, such as the partitions that surround the circular bar at the center of the lobby.

"The bar was iconic for its time, and it's iconic again," Quatrochi said. "We used the steel structure that formed the base of the bar and basically worked around it."

It also features a restaurant, called "3 2 Zero," an outdoor patio and a ballroom. Room rates start at about $129, with suites starting at $159.

City officials have said that the city needs more hotel rooms in order to lure larger conventions and gatherings.

"The DoubleTree will obviously help meet the goal of having a large enough hotel base downtown to serve large conventions," Montgomery Director of Development Chad Emerson said recently. "We do have hotels that have suites, but that's the only select service family suites."

The city is wasting no time finding more rooms.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said Monday that the dilapidated State House Inn Plaza, which the city purchased in December, will be torn down within three months to make room for more development along Madison Avenue.

"There is a lot of interest in a hotel there, and we want to make sure that it's the right hotel," Strange said. "We're on the front end of trying to make sure it gets done."

The other three downtown hotels -- the Hampton Inn & Suites, the Renaissance Hotel & Spa and the Embassy Suites Montgomery Hotel and Conference Center -- have 665 total rooms.

Those hotels average about 70 percent occupancy, Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Convention and Visitor's Bureau vice president Dawn Hathcock said recently.

"When hoteliers or developers look at that, that shows them there's still a demand for more rooms," Hathcock said.

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