�Our Chinese colleagues have taught us the lunar calendar is an important part of Asian traditions,� said William Morton, senior vice president of Park Lane Hotels International, the management company for the new hotel and also for the existing Oakland Marriott City Center located across Broadway. �For example, a day that is good for a ground-breaking may not necessarily be a good day for a marriage or for a visit to a doctor. The calendar indicated that either April 29 or May 9 would be good dates to begin a hotel, and we selected the earlier one because we are eager to get started.�

The $25 million, five-story hotel at 988 Broadway will have 162 rooms. Completion is scheduled for late 2001. The last hotel built in downtown was the 500-room Oakland Marriott City Center which opened in 1983.  The hotel design incorporates architectural treatments that complement the historic Victorians across the street in Old Oakland and a color scheme that affords a seamless transition between downtown and Chinatown. 

The 99,000-square-foot building will include 1,300 square feet of meeting rooms, a 1,900-square-foot restaurant and 2,000 square feet of retail shops on the ground level. Architects are Patri Merker and Y.H. Lee, both of which have offices in Oakland.

Construction of the hotel is part of the City of Oakland�s focus on downtown development as well as the success of its sister hotel, the Oakland Marriott City Center, where occupancy rates have improved measurably in the past few years, said Clifton Clark, its general manager.

The hotel will have approximately 40 employees upon opening.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that the Courtyard by Marriott will generate approximately $500,000 a year in room taxes for the City of Oakland, and that visitors will spend $9.2 million a year in Oakland.  �The new Marriott will benefit all of the hotels in Oakland,� said Sam Nassif, chairman of the Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau. �Right now we lack enough hotel rooms to attract larger conventions. The completion of this hotel should generate more business for all of us.�

Courtyard by Marriott facilities are designed as a value-priced alternative for business travelers who need an efficient business environment. Features include a breakfast buffet, exercise gym, outdoor pool and guest rooms with an easy chair and ottoman, a large work desk with a two-line phone, high-speed Internet access, and voice mail that can be accessed from outside the hotel.

Park Lane Hotels International has offices in both in San Francisco and Oakland and has more than 3,000 rooms under management.

Marriott International, Inc., headquartered in Washington, D.C., has more than 2,000 operating units in the United States and 55 other countries and territories.