The Guest House at Graceland Hotel Expected to Open This Fall, featured in Hotel Business magazine
MEMPHIS, TN—The Guest House at Graceland, located near Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion here, is nearly eight months away from its grand opening. Dignitaries, designers and construction teams associated with the hotel held a topping-off ceremony at the hotel construction site to put the final beam in place.
The 450-room resort hotel was designed by Hnedak Bobo Group (HBG). Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) sought out HBG directly for the project. EPE said they found two primary challenges: creating a design that would complement and celebrate Graceland without taking away the mansion’s prominence as the focal point; and ensuring the hotel fit aesthetically into the residential neighborhood in which it is located. According to EPE, both were accomplished.
“The hotel easily fits right into the context of the Graceland mansion,” said Mark Weaver, HBG principal and lead designer for The Guest House at Graceland. “From the main entry door to the large gabled roof and columned entry portico, our goal was to make this hotel look as if it was built not long after Graceland itself. It will feel like it has always been here.”
Originally built in 1939, the classic revival style Graceland mansion features a signature front portico. The central portion of the hotel’s exterior celebrates the original mansion in form, scale and in the materials used, according to EPE.
The expansive southern porch is another prominent design feature of The Guest House at Graceland. Both the hotel’s restaurant and lounge are designed to embrace the front porch with outdoor seating and dining on the veranda to capture that southern family gathering feel, according to EPE.
HBG designers researched the mansion for more than two years and worked with Priscilla Presley to capture the essence of both Elvis’ personal style and the historic Graceland mansion.
“We all recognize Graceland almost as a time-capsule of 1970s design,” said Weaver, “If Elvis was here today, he most likely wouldn’t design his new guest house to look like it was still 1975. So, we took cues from his design style using contemporary pieces to pull it all together. We focused on creating a sense of intimacy between the guest and the property, creating a way for visitors to have an informal and personal experience as a true guest of Graceland that has previously not been possible… an experience that—we think—would make Elvis proud.”
The hotel’s grand opening event will be held Oct. 27–30.
HBG Principal Dike Bacon Joins a Roundtable Discussion on Non-Gaming Amenities at Casino Properties
Each year, Casino Design magazine gathers a group of experts in the field to talk about issues that impact their discipline. For this year’s edition, moderator Julie Brinkerhoff Jacobs, the president and chief financial officer of Lifescapes International, Inc., focuses on the crucial subject of non-gaming amenities.
With gaming revenues flat or declining in an increasingly competitive industry, casino resorts are struggling to decide what non-gaming amenities their guests would prefer and what brings the biggest bang for the buck. So sit back and learn how your property can tap into this lucrative market.
The faculty for this year’s roundtable includes:
• Dike Bacon, Principal, Development Leader/Director of Planning and Business Development, Hnedak Bobo Group
• DeRuyter Butler, Executive Vice President of Architecture, Wynn Design & Development
• Rich Emery, President & Design Principal, Thalden Boyd Emery Architects
• Paul Heretakis, Vice President, Westar Architects
• Tom Hoskens, Vice President, Founding Principal, Cuningham Group
• Bob Kelly, Senior Vice President-Pre-Construction, Roy Anderson Construction
• Andrew Kreft, Executive Senior Principal / Director of Design, Lifescapes International, Inc.
• Patrick Murphy, President, Pechanga Development Corporation
• Stephen Ranck, Southwest Hospitality Practice Area Leader, Gensler
• Richard (Dick) Rizzo, Vice Chairman, Tutor Perini Building Corp.
• Paul Steelman, CEO, Steelman Partners
King Suite at Four Winds New Buffalo Casino Resort
What does a hotel do for a casino, both in terms of visitations and revenue?
BACON: A hotel speaks to the notion of a resort experience more than any other amenity (golf not withstanding) and is often the primary component of a true integrated resort, which is fancy term for mixed-use development. No other amenity contributes to longer length of stay than a hotel. F&B patronage is significantly stronger with an overnight guest. The fundamental key for success, however, is recognizing that you’re not in the hotel business but the gaming resort business.
Meetings and conventions are a fast-growing part of most resorts. What are the secrets of adding a successful meetings and convention business?
Winstar World Casino Resort
BACON: The meetings and convention business have become extremely competitive, but can be a great non-gaming revenue generator. The average meeting attendee will book an early week room night and use an expense account to spend generously on F&B. One of the biggest contributors to incremental revenue success is the proper promotion of the space to the right groups. It’s no secret that the typical meeting attendee is an average gamer, so it’s critical to market to the right meeting planners in order to land the right demographics.
See the full roundtable discussion in the 2015 Casino Design Magazine
The Guest House at Graceland is One of the Most Important Hotels Opening in 2016
From Business Insider – The Guest House at Graceland makes the list of the 11 most important hotel openings of 2016
A new year brings new everything — new goals, new challenges, new plans, and (fortunately for us) new hotels. We’ve already gone the nostalgic route, taking you ona tour of the hot new hotels of 2015, so now we’re looking ahead at the brand-new hotels that will open their doors in 2016.
Of course, thousands of hotels (and tiny properties that we guess can be considered hotels) open annually, but some are more anticipated than others.
Here, we bring you the biggest hotel openings of 2016. From a hip Miami property (that was slated to open in 2015) to a private island off the coast of Tanzania, these 11 newbies are worth a visit this year, while they’re still so fresh and so clean (clean).
The Guest House at Graceland, Memphis
Photo Credit: The Guest House at Graceland
Opening in October as one of the largest lodgings in Memphis, the 450-room Guest House at Graceland is not your typical hotel stay. Of course it will offer standard amenities like room service, an outdoor pool, and a free airport shuttle, but — sitting just outside the entrance of Graceland — The Guest House has Elvis Presley fans as its priority; picture plenty of Presley paraphernalia and even specialty suites designed in conjunction with Priscilla Presley.
Congratulations Seneca Nation on the groundbreaking for the phase 2 Buffalo Creek Casino expansion!
HBG’s Seneca design team was very excited to attend the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino expansion groundbreaking ceremony on January 14th! The project is scheduled for a 2017 opening. READ MORE ABOUT THE PHASE 2 BUFFALO CREEK CASINO EXPANSION HERE.
Design by Evolution: How to Maximize and Reinvent Every Space in Your Existing Casino
“For many gaming tribes across the country, a challenge is not trying to figure out what to new-build next (unless market opportunities and demand warrant), but how to aggressively maximize or reinvent every square foot of existing space,” says Dike Bacon, principal for the Memphis-based Hnedak Bobo Group, which has a rich tradition with tribal gaming projects.
HBG Principal and Industry Expert, Dike Bacon
“Many larger, older facilities were designed and built during times when excess or underutilized space was of no consequence,” Bacon says. “Public spaces, lobbies, casino floors, guest rooms, and many backs of houses were huge simply because they could be, and they got financed. There are always plenty of opportunities to renovate and refurbish, but often the biggest opportunity to directly affect the bottom line is to adaptively repurpose these kinds of inefficient existing spaces into new non-gaming revenue generators and entertainment experiences.”
The changes don’t always have to entail bells and whistles. They can be subtle.
“Things don’t have to be overcomplicated,” Bacon says. “Maybe inject some old-school glamour and turn an oversized lobby into an elegant, multi-dimensional entertainment space. Or turn an underutilized back-of-house space adjacent to an existing kitchen into a cutting-edge, chef-driven fast-casual. Move poorly located and off-trend bars to higher-profile, more socially interactive locations or reposition and redesign retail outlets for maximum storefront and product exposure.
“If gaming revenues stay relatively flat, the bottom-line impact of reinventing or discovering new non-gaming amenities that are properly positioned relationally inside an existing building envelope can be significant.”
An evolving trend in the regional gaming industry is the whole notion of not trending out, Bacon contends. This can be accomplished by capitalizing on the experiential travel economy in unique ways.
“A classic problem is that virtually everything new or on trend at some point becomes stale and has to be reinvented,” he says. “The best success is often found by tailoring the new offerings to the local guest in an aspirationally classic way, while not delivering something unfamiliar or out of bounds.
Residually, this locavore-type product can be a draw and can often dramatically extend geographic reach.
“This is the sort of thing an experiential traveler seeks out—a contextual, localized experience that can’t be found or easily replicated somewhere else. It’s actually the exact opposite of a replicated brand standard, and can be a great way to expand a customer base. Indian casinos, because they are often individual and authentic anyway, are tailor-made for this.”
The Seneca Buffalo Creek casino expansion illustrates a property knowing what works. A $40 million expansion, modest but meaningful in today’s market, includes a two-story expansion project, a new high-limit game room, 360 additional slot machines and 10 game tables, bringing the total number of slot machines to 1,200 and game tables to 32 after construction.
The expansion will also create a new retail area and add a small performance stage for live entertainment at the Stixx Sports Bar. The existing Buffalo Savors Grill will be upgraded, and a second floor will house a new restaurant, the Western Door Steakhouse, which is one of the most popular restaurants at Seneca Gaming’s other New York casino properties. Construction will be complete in early 2017.
See the full article on “Design By Evolution” in the 2015 Casino Design Magazine
HBG Expands Western Presence
As we continue to strengthen our commitment to clients in the Western US, HBG is pleased to announce that we will be opening an office in Southern California during the first quarter of 2016. The new office will be led by Joe Baruffaldi, AIA, who has joined HBG as Principal and Group Leader. Joe represents an exciting addition to our project leadership team, complementing other HBG principals already familiar to you, including Rick Gardner, Dike Bacon, Paul Bell, Craig Conrad, Kelly DeVine, Rob Lee, and Danny Valle.
With more than 20 years project leadership experience, Joe’s experience in the hospitality, gaming and entertainment design industry includes several significant hotel developments and casino resorts across California and Arizona. Joe also has experience in mixed-use development, retail, transportation and public building venues. His hospitality expertise includes new construction, conversions, renovations, and master planning.
“Joe’s expertise further strengthens HBG’s robust hospitality and entertainment practice,” says Rick Gardner, AIA, Principal and Practice Leader of HBG, “and our expansion into California adds significantly to our team’s ability to provide enhanced service to our clients in the Western and Northwestern region.”
HBG GOH Travel Program Recognized Nationally
Traveling to London, Paris, Spain or Switzerland may not be a traditional means of employee development, but Memphis-based architecture firm, Hnedak Bobo Group, has garnered national recognition for “expanding cultural awareness among employees.”
HBG was awarded the 2015 Gold Optimas Award for Corporate Citizenship by Workforce Magazine for its Gregory O. Hnedak Travel Scholarship that awards $5,000 for travel.
The scholarship, named after firm co-founder Greg Hnedak, is open to all non-principal employees and awarded to one employee each year.
Its intention is to help employees grow personally and professionally by broadening their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
The experience is then shared with the firm through real-time and reflective blog posts, updates and presentations.
“HBG has continually sought to elevate our workforce, offering unique incentives and professional development that can draw the top professionals from across the country to Memphis,” said HBG COO, Terri Struminger. “The Gregory O. Hnedak Travel Scholarship is a way for them to open their eyes to cultures, ways of thinking and experiences they may have never considered. This program helps to create a more culturally aware, creative and experienced employee base.”
In it’s inaugural year this year, the firm selected two winners, Executive Assistant Branden Canepa, who traveled a portion of the El Camino de Santiago in Spain on a journey of personal development; and Architect Thor Harland, who traveled to London and Paris to study the “tension” between culture and historic and modern design.
Designer Deidre Brady has been selected as the 2015 winner, and will travel Spain and Switzerland to study the relationship between nature and built spaces.
Michelle Corbet, Reporter
Memphis Business Journal
‘Seneca Secret’ in the latest Casino Design magazine
The Seneca Nation was far from the first tribe to enter tribal gaming, but when they decided to take the plunge, they were all in. First, Seneca Niagara became a success near the famous falls. Then a second casino in Allegany, New York followed in that path. Finally, a small casino in Buffalo was more successful than anticipated, so an expansion plan was necessary. Continuing its relationship with the Seneca Nation, Hnedak Bobo Group (HBG) is currently designing a $40 million expansion to the Buffalo Creek Casino. HBG also designed the phase-one casino.
The two-story expansion project will feature a new high-limit game room, 360 additional slot machines and 10 game tables, bringing the total number of slot machines to 1,200 and game tables to 32 after construction.
In addition, the expansion will create a new retail area and add a small performance stage for live entertainment at the Stixx Sports Bar. The existing Buffalo Savors Grill will be upgraded, and a second floor will house a new restaurant, the Western Door Steakhouse—which is one of the most popular restaurants at Seneca Gaming’s other New York casino properties. Construction will be complete in early 2017.
Located in the former industrial area of Buffalo’s re-emerging Inner Harbor, HBG designed the phase-one Buffalo Creek Casino, which opened on August 27, 2013. Highly visible from Interstate 190 and only two blocks from the First Niagara Center, home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, the Seneca Nation’s casino property celebrates the culture of the Seneca people while serving as a building block for the continued growth of the Inner Harbor area.
Owner: Seneca Nation
Manager: Seneca Gaming Corp.
Architect/Designer: Hnedak Bobo Group
Investment: $40 million
See the original article in the 2015 Casino Design Magazine
We’re Celebrating the Grand Opening of Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phase I
Photo from YourWestValley.com article: http://www.yourwestvalley.com/glendale/article_53defecc-a872-11e5-ad25-d76200b77a7b.html
Congratulations to our client, the Tohono O’odham Nation on the grand opening of the first phase of the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino in Maricopa County, Arizona. The HBG-designed casino officially opened to the public on December 20, 2015. We have compiled articles on the project below – take a look for a peek into the project, and check back on the HBG website soon for official project photography.
YourWestValley.com Grand Opening story
From the Phoenix Business Journal
A Video Sneak Peek from From ABC 15 Arizona
Visit the official Desert Diamond West Valley Casino website here.
Just Announced: HBG Wins National AIA Award!
The National AIA and NCARB have jointly selected HBG as a recipient of the 2015-2018 Intern Development Program (IDP) Outstanding Firm Award! Only four firms in the country were recognized at this elite level.
This is HBG’s FIRST AIA National Firm Award, so it is especially significant for us.
In our submission, HBG demonstrated a deep commitment to our IDP program by going above and beyond the baseline criteria. We earned an “Outstanding” designation from AIA by demonstrating innovation in our commitment to career growth and leadership development through programs such as EDGE Leadership Development; our Professional Sponsorship Program; the Emerging Professionals Studio; and the GOH Travel Scholarship. This award celebrates the importance we place on a culture of learning and leadership at HBG. We are thrilled to be among such a select few firms in earning this prestigious honor.
Read more about it on the AIA website
Read more about it in Architect Magazine