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One of Downtown’s most recognizable buildings is undergoing a rebrand that will see a name change and renovations designed to suit New Mexico’s style.
Starting April 1, Hyatt Regency Albuquerque will become The Clyde Hotel, hotelier and owner Jim Long told the Journal.
“Albuquerque is on the cusp of really transforming,” he said.
With that in mind, Long hopes that the Clyde Hotel “will dovetail quite nicely” with what he sees as a changing Albuquerque.
“Coupled with the fact that we see an immense opportunity to create New Mexico’s first luxury, business-style hotel – we saw this as a perfect opportunity to rebrand as a Heritage hotel and let the hotel tell its unique story,” he said.
Long, who has owned the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque since 2013, said the building has accommodated that brand since its inception in 1990. But it was time for a rebrand and the name change honors Clyde Tingley, a former governor for New Mexico and former chairman for the Albuquerque City Commission, who Long said brought the state into the “modern era.”
In total, the renovations to the hotel – which will include a new logo on the outside of the building, as well as updates to the 392 guest rooms, lobby and dining areas – are expected to be completed within two years, Long said.
Renovations to the lobby, dining and bar areas will come first and are expected to take nine months. And the restaurant and lobby bar – currently known as HQue and Forque Kitchen and Bar, respectively – will see their names change to 1922 and Carrie’s, the latter paying homage to Tingley’s wife, Carrie Wooster Tingley.
The focus is to give Albuquerque its first, true “business-style hotel,” Long said, which he envisions as a place where businessmen and women can transact and interact with one another.
“People need a great business hotel to meet and to interact,” he said. “I think all great cities have such a place. If you think about New York, you have the Waldorf and the Plaza Hotels; you’ve got The Brown Palace in Denver; you’ve got the Palmer Hotel in Chicago. … You have these kinds of hotels that are an important element of the business community and the community at large.”
The hotel’s design will take on a “Pueblo-deco” and “Western grittiness” style that Long said has influences from the 1930s and 1940s.
New Mexico-based architect Carla Davis has worked on the designs for the project, he said. Davis has previously worked with Long and Heritage Hotels & Resorts on other design aspects for their hotels in the state. Though Long didn’t have a number set on the cost of renovations, he did say it would cost “several millions” when all is said and done.
A contractor for the renovations has not been named.
Now under the Heritage Hotels & Resorts brand, The Clyde Hotel is the third hotel offering in Albuquerque and 10th across New Mexico. The company owns other hotels and resorts in Taos, Santa Fe and Las Cruces, according to its website.
The Clyde Hotel is listed as the second tallest building in Albuquerque at 256 feet, according to Emporis, a global provider of building information.
This story has been updated to include the accurate number of hotel rooms at The Clyde Hotel.
