Here is an article on the wrapping up process...
RSA Tower project nearing completion
Sunday, March 11, 2007By KATHY JUMPERReal Estate Editor
In 20 days, Margo Gilbert and her staff will begin unpacking 17 truckloads of furniture and equipment for the newly renovated 238-room Battle House Hotel on Royal Street.
"It takes us 30 to 45 days to unpack the furnishings, move in and train," said the hotel manager for Point Clear Hotels & Resorts, which operates the hotel for the Retirement Systems of Alabama.
On May 11, the hotel will turn on its reservation system, and guests can begin staying in the rooms the next day, she said.
"Our vision for the hotel, when we open, is to have the service start up as if it had never been closed for 35 years," she said.
After 4½ years, the $200 million RSA Battle House Tower project is almost complete, according to Ron Blount, project director for the Retirement Systems of Alabama, the state's $28 billion pension funds.
Construction costs were
$162 million on the office tower and hotel complex, but the overall cost of the project will be $200 million, he said.
The circa 1909 hotel building will open as a four-star Marriott Renaissance Hotel. A grand opening to benefit the arts will be held May 11 in the hotel, but the ticket prices and details are still being planned by community leaders, according to RSA and its affiliate, PCH.
"This has been brick and mortar for me for four years and about three months ago it hit me," Blount said as he walked through the Battle House Hotel last week. "We're about to hand Mobile back its living room, and it's almost 100 years old."
The 35-story Battle House office tower will also open in mid-May, and at least 60 percent of the office space has been leased, according to Joe Toole, leasing agent for RSA.
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Interior work is under way on International Shipholding Corp.'s offices on the 17th and 18th floors and the company plans to move in by the end of the month, Toole said.
"Leasing started out a bit slow," Toole said. "But once they saw the building, the interest really picked up. When the folks go on a tour, the building sells itself."
Most of the tenants are local firms, though RSA is talking with some regional firms about relocating to Mobile, he said.
Lease rates average $20 per square foot on the lower floors and $22 to $24 per square foot on the upper floors, he said. The top floor has not yet been leased.
That's a jump from the average $15 to $16 per square foot charged for newer, updated Class A office space in Mobile.
Announced Battle House tenants include the law firm of Hand Arendall; CitiGroup/Smith Barney; Regions Bank; and RSA's management office and PCH's office, both on the 8th floor.
Other tenants include a state agency, a telecommunications firm, an architectural firm, a corporate design group and several law firms, Toole said. Wachovia Bank will have a drive-through location on the main floor of the nine-deck RSA parking garage.
The last two weeks before the hotel opens are "crunch time," said Gilbert, who will have 26 managers and several hundred workers on board by opening day.
"I feel very confident that I'm going to hit the May 11 opening," she said. "As soon as (Blount) turns the hotel over to us, we're ready to go."
More than 400 workers are still on the job site, down from the 600 during peak construction, according to Blount. Crews are cleaning the buildings and finishing up interior and exterior details such as flooring, paint and landscaping.
Work will continue after May 11. The parking deck off Water Street will be open, but the spa and fitness center on the top-floor deck will not be ready, according to RSA. The Trellis restaurant in the Battle House Hotel will be open, but PCH is finalizing the concept for the hotel's second restaurant, which is next to the Royal Street hotel entrance.
RSA's total investment in downtown Mobile over the last 4½ years will top $300 million, according to Blount. In addition to the Battle House project, that includes the purchase and
$60 million renovation of the 375-room Riverview Plaza Hotel at 64 S. Water St. and the construction and management of the Alabama Cruise Terminal at Mobile.
and another on staffing the place...
Staffing search for Battle House begins
'Hiring halls' help place local people in jobs at historic hotel Sunday, March 11, 2007By KAIJA WILKINSONBusiness Reporter
With the May 11 grand re-opening for the Battle House Hotel rapidly approaching, Retirement Systems of Alabama subsidiary PCH Hotels and Resorts is holding four hiring halls, or job fairs, to help fill about 200 positions. The first event took place Friday at the Alabama Career Center.
The other fairs will be held today through Tuesday at the Riverview Plaza Hotel, another RSA property.
Bill Lang, PCH spokesman, said the events are an effort to give local people a shot at jobs in properties that PCH markets as upscale resorts known for a high level of service.
Previous events, such as one in Birmingham to fill positions at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Spa & Resort, resulted in well over 100 hires.
Although PCH welcomes applicants with experience, "we also make a practice of hiring attitude," Lang said. In fact, some of the north Alabama hires for PCH's Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa in Florence had backgrounds in chicken processing, and that resort has been ranked as the top Marriott golf resort in North America, he said.
A wide range of positions are open at the Battle House, from housekeeper to bartender to front office manager.
Pay varies widely depending on job requirements and experience. An entry-level hourly employee will earn about $8 to $8.50 an hour, while salaried managers can earn anywhere from the mid-$30,000s annually to $70,000-plus, according to Keith Schmitt, vice president of human resources for PCH.
Employees will report to work in April to train, ideally about six weeks before the opening, Lang said.
Schmitt said that by the time he left Friday's hiring hall at mid-day, HR representatives had seen about 20 applicants, and made offers to a few people on the spot, including a native of Mobile and Bishop State graduate who had been working as a line cook at a Mississippi coast casino.
PCH also plans to staff its hotels with foreign workers, such as students on work-study visas, especially during times of heavy seasonal demand. A former 1843 orphanage at 911 Dauphin St. has been purchased by investors who plan to renovate and lease it to PCH to house about 60 of those workers who could take jobs at the Battle House, the downtown Riverview Plaza Hotel, and the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa in Point Clear, the company has said.
A job at the Battle House is a long-awaited homecoming for at least one employee, George Moore, 74, who worked there from 1958 through 1963 as a waiter.
Moore said he has fond memories of the hotel, all the way back to the times he marched past Mardi Gras revelers on the hotel's balcony as a member of the Central High School marching band.
He started working at the Battle House as a banquet waiter in the Crystal Ballroom, and said he can remember the luxury of the king's dinners during Carnival and another occasion when a jubilant reveler tossed money from the ballroom balcony.
Moore, known as "Mr. George," is a supervisor at the cafe and grill in the Riverview on Water Street. Moore said he will likely work in a similar capacity at the Battle House.
The Battle House, where Mobile has had a hotel since 1852, will eventually employee about 250 people, Schmitt said.
PCH employs abut 1,500 people at its six resorts, and anticipates that number growing to 2,200 by this time next year, Schmitt said, when a new Montgomery hotel and conference center is slated to open.
Eugene Beard, 23, was among the applicants who showed up to apply at Friday's event. Beard said he has experience working temporary construction jobs, but wanted something more permanent since he needs the money for college. Beard applied for a restaurant helper position.
"I'm getting older, and I need a full-time job," he said.
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