Help this Tree Live on...

It is a necessary evil of construction that trees gets displaced. We had this beautiful, mature tree on the northwest corner of our site that obstructed our entry driveway. As much as we wanted to preserve it, the construction activity would have subjected the tree to a slow death. Instead we decided we needed to memorialize the tree in a new inert form. 

The whole trunk of the tree now lives off site, but we want to bring it back to its birth place at 500 College Avenue after construction is completed. Friends of the project have been kicking around different ideas, such as cutting the trunk in sections to create cylindrical stools, all of which are possible. We invite you to share ideas about how you might repurpose this tree by posting a comment or emailing rialtopp@gmail.com.

The Big Pour

You will notice from today's album that we can barely contain our excitement over the pouring of concrete. This marks the official completion of the foundation for the first level of the hotel. Stay tuned as the hotel's five stories come up over the course of the winter season. 

The Rialto Club Takes Form

We are starting to see The Rialto Club take shape along College Avenue. The basic elements--the exterior wall and the columns, and the ceiling--are all in place; and the vision for the use of the space is building everyday. 

Bryan Mermans and TS Adams Studio are architecting the interior of the club space, intended to be a special events venue for private gatherings, music performances and other occasions. Check out our visit to the site on November 5th.

Interiors Presentation

Take a sneak peek at the interior design of Hotel Indigo Athens by Ellen Hanson Designs.

Community Outreach

Our architectural model is now on tour and has traveled from Atlanta to Madison to Athens.

First stop: Sustainability Expo at the Madison Morgan Cultural Center (www.madmorg.org), where one of our investors is an active board member and champion for green architecture. The exposition drew in crowds of locals interested in learning more about sustainable practices in Georgia—from geothermal and solar technologies to land conservation and sustainable forestry. Hotel Indigo Athens was proud to represent green building and educate the community about LEED standards. See pictures by linking here.

Next Stop: Mercury Art Works gallery in Athens. Chris Wyrick and Sandi Turner threw us a party we’ll never forget. We mixed and mingled with Athens locals and even had a surprise guest come down from New York (see pictures here). Ellen Hanson introduced her ideas for the interiors and invited local artists to collaborate. We are delighted to see some of these budding relationships begin to develop.

Final Stop: Construction Trailer on Site. The architectural model will be temporarily housed in Athens for on-site tours. Also coming soon on site: a full-scale model of one of our hotel rooms, fully furnished and detailed!

UGA Music Business Program

The UGA Music Business Program continues to capture the hearts and minds of our project team. We see great value in a program that develops the symbiotic disciplines of economics and the arts.

Just recently, our project team decided to commit to a substantial donation in support of the UGA Music Business Program. Hotel Indigo Athens' investors, general contractor, architects, engineers, interior designers, attorneys, and other consultants all agreed to give a portion of their fees generated by the project to the Program. For details, please view our Press Release.

We visited a UGA Music Business Program class yesterday and were greeted by over 80 talented students. Each one displayed a self-made, hand-crafted nameplate, which attested to the individual expression behind each creation. No doubt this was a clever assignment by Bruce Burch and Keith Perissi to teach the students the importance of standing out among a crowd. We are excited to have a student extern, Emmy Bateman, join our Hotel Indigo marketing team. She will be helping us build a student program for attracting music talent to the hotel.

Athens Art Scene

Athens is a gold mine for the arts. Between the University of Georgia's commitment to art education and the larger community's promotion of local talent, there exists a richness of spirit and culture unique to this college town.

For the first time ever, UGA introduced a four-day Arts Festival featuring fine and decorative arts exhibits, as well as musical and theatrical performances. Honoring UGA's new home for arts education, the festival kicked off with the Lamar Dodd School of Art building dedication, which our development team attended this past Thursday. We were very impressed by the building's accomplishments in sustainability, from its green roof to its water conservation efforts (includes a stormwater infiltration system). But the building's most unique sustainable feature is the art on the walls--continuously produced by both faculty and students, and displayed on a rotating basis. Our hotel seeks to create the same community-inspired environment through art exhibits that refresh seasonally.

We are excited to find so many people within the Athens community that share our philosophy about sustainable development as it relates to the arts. From the Athens Design Development group to the Mercury Art Works duo, we are discovering unforeseen opportunities that we cannot wait to realize. The home of Sandi Turner and Chris Wyrick is a good example of what we would like to create within the hotel--a place where the boundary between art gallery and living space blurs: