Omni Providence Hotel

Omni Providence Hotel
Omni Providence Hotel
Former names	Westin Hotel
Hotel chain	Omni Hotels
General information
Location	United States
Address	1 West Exchange Street; Providence, Rhode Island
Coordinates	41°49′31″N 71°24′58″W / 41.8253°N 71.4162°W
Opening	December 1, 1994
Owner	Omni Hotels
Management	Omni Hotels
Height	100.3 m (329 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	25
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Nichols Brosch Sandoval & Associates, Inc.
Other information
Number of rooms	564
Number of restaurants	Café Gusto ; Centro ; Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar

The Omni Providence Hotel (formerly The Westin Providence) is a Neo-Traditionalist skyscraper in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. At 100 m (328 ft), it became the fourth-tallest building in the city and the state on 15 February 2007, when the nearby slightly taller The Residences Providence topped out. Brick facades and a pitched roof adorn the building.^{[citation needed]}

With the completion of the Residences tower, that added 200 rooms, the Omni Providence now boasts 564 rooms, and is still the tallest and largest hotel in Providence, having usurped the title from the 1922 Providence Biltmore upon completion.^{[citation needed]}

History

The Westin Providence, as it was then known, was completed with 364 beds in December 1994 as part of a larger construction project which included the Rhode Island Convention Center and two parking garages.^[1] The hotel held its first gala in January 1995.^[1]

The hotel was sold to Omni Hotels & Resorts in October 2012 and was converted to the Omni Providence Hotel on January 15, 2013.^[5]

The hotel is connected by the Providence Skybridge, constructed by the architect Friedrich St. Florian in 2000, with the Providence Place shopping mall.^[6]

COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Omni to close to the public in March 2020.^[7] The hotel found some financial relief in January 2021 when nearby Brown University leased 240 rooms to provide socially distanced housing for their students, including weekly laundry service and a COVID testing site on the third floor.^[7]

Criticism

William McKenzie Woodward, a local architectural historian and staff member of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission does not believe its styling to be architecturally innovative, calling it "yet another bland addition to the city's growing recent collection of buildings seemingly designed not to offend."^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Leazes, Francis J.; Motte, Mark T. (2004). Providence, The Renaissance City. UPNE. p. 173. ISBN 9781555536046. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
^ "Emporis building ID 125360". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Omni Providence Hotel". SkyscraperPage.
^ Omni Providence Hotel at Structurae
^ http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/10/omni-acquires-westin-hotel-in-providence.html ^{[dead link]}
^ "05-128 (Friedrich St.Florian)". www.brown.edu.
^ ^a ^b Gagosz, Alexa (4 February 2021). "When your college dorm is a four-star hotel". Boston, MA: The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021. Brown University leased 240 rooms at the Omni Providence to provide socially distanced housing, and in turn, guaranteed income for a hotel that's been closed since last March
^ Woodward, William McKenzie (2003). Guide to Providence Architecture. Providence: Providence Preservation Society. ISBN 0-9742847-0-X.