Convention Housing Management, a privately owned housing services company negotiated the booking on behalf of SEMI.  CHM, founded in 1987, provides organizers of large trade shows, conventions and conferences full-service housing management, and has managed housing for the SEMICON West trade shows for 14 years.

The first new hotel constructed in downtown San Jose in 10 years � and connected to the popular, 300,000-square-foot McEnery Convention Center � the 506-room, 28-story San Jose Marriott is scheduled to open in January 2003.  With 21,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space, the new San Jose Marriott will provide a significant response to the growing need for an increase in lodging and meeting space in downtown San Jose.  

�Until now, many of our trade show attendees had to stay in hotels miles away from the Convention Center because hotel rooms just weren�t available downtown,� said Rick Heim, senior vice president, expositions and technology for SEMI.  �The San Jose Marriott is a most welcome addition to downtown San Jose and the Convention Center.�

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International is a global trade association representing over 2,500 companies in the semiconductor and flat panel display equipment and materials industries.  Founded in 1970, SEMI has evolved into a worldwide organization committed to free trade and open markets, assisting its members expand their global marketing opportunities and improve access to their customers and industry, government and civic leaders.  In addition to its San Jose headquarters, SEMI operates offices in Austin, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. 

Additional amenities of the 430,000-square-foot luxury business hotel include 17 meeting rooms, a fitness center with outdoor pool and spa, underground valet parking, concierge level, full-service signature restaurant and bar, a café, and much more.

The project architects are Hornberger + Worstell, Inc. of San Francisco.  The architects have designed a distinctive high-tech architectural style that includes stone cladding on lower levels, pre-cast finishes on upper levels, and a dramatic glass curtain wall encompassing the entire north elevation and surrounding the public podium spaces.

The San Jose Marriott is being developed by SCS San Jose Development Co. on behalf of ownership � Walton San Jose Investors III, L.L. C., an affiliate of Walton Real Estate Fund III, L.P., a private equity real estate fund.  Park Lane Hotels International, which has been selected to manage the hotel, has more than 3,000 hotel rooms under management throughout the U.S. including the 479-room Oakland Marriott and the 1,010-room Renaissance Parc 55 in San Francisco.  The hotel will be operated under a franchise agreement with Marriott International, Inc., headquartered in Washington D.C., with more than 2,000 operating units in the United States and 55 other countries and territories.

Walton San Jose Investors III, L.L. C. is an affiliate of Chicago-based Walton Street Capital, a real estate opportunity fund that directly or through their affiliates owns eight luxury and full-service hotels and has over $2 billion invested in real estate throughout the world.  The hotel holdings include the Fremont Marriott, Four Seasons Scottsdale, Four Seasons Milan, Regent Sydney, Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains, Ritz Carlton Pentagon City, and the Westin Oaks and Galleria hotels in Houston.