DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF) – The ribbon was cut Tuesday for Dallas’ newest boutique hotel.
The $35 million renovation of the 235 room Lorenzo Hotel is the latest project for Hamilton Properties CEO Larry Hamilton.
“This is a very artsy hotel,” said Hamilton. “People have compared it to a museum.”
Hamilton owns a half-dozen other historic buildings downtown that he’s saved and restored. Years ago, after developing multiple properties in Denver, he saw the potential to do even more in Dallas. Now that is coming to fruition.
The Lorenzo occupies the old Ramada Inn that was built in the early 1970’s. Hamilton used pieces of the hotel to create works of art to be incorporated into the Lorenzo. The old water heater now looks like a giant amoeba. The swimming pool area has it’s own art show housed under the steel frame that once enclosed the old hotel’s indoor pool. A picture of Tina Turner hangs in the downstairs lobby to commemorate the building’s history.
“It gained fame as the place where Tina Turner left Ike,” Hamilton said. They were doing a concert in Dallas and staying in the Statler Hilton. She decided that was it and hiked across the freeway and came to the Ramada.”
Hamilton said the hotel declined over the decades. He purchased the building in 2008 and has been sitting on it until now. He says the hotel offers a unique experience for visitors in a populated area of downtown. The hotel sits just outside of the Cedars district near ‘
Southside on Lamar.’
The hotel has 237 rooms and is bigger than a typical boutique hotel.
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