Dive Brief:
- Marriott International’s W Hotels brand is expanding to Charlotte, North Carolina, with a 200-key hotel anchoring the redevelopment of a former office tower, according to a news release shared with Hotel Dive.
- W Charlotte will offer 173 guest rooms and 27 suites as well as signature W Hotels brand amenities, per the release. New York City-based Spandrel Development Partners, in collaboration with boutique real estate investment and development firm 7G Group, will develop the hotel.
- The property will join others in the W Hotels portfolio, which Marriott has been strategically expanding over the last two years after the brand underwent a multiyear evolution.
Dive Insight:
W Charlotte represents the hospitality component of Spandrel’s 400 South Tryon mixed-use project, which will transform the former 1970s office tower at the site.
The hotel will span floors one through nine of the redevelopment and include a penthouse suite. It is also expected to include 12,000 square feet of meetings space; a ground-floor restaurant and coffee bar; the brand’s signature gathering space, the Living Room; and an 18,000-square-foot rooftop food and beverage venue on the 34th floor.
New York-based Rockwell Group is leading the hotel design, with LS3P serving as the architect of record and CetraRuddy as the conceptual design architect. The hotel’s interiors will draw inspiration from Charlotte’s “music heritage, architecture and Southern character,” per the release.
In addition to the hotel, the property will feature 399 studio, one-, two and three-bedroom residences, according to the release. A Spandrel spokesperson confirmed to Hotel Dive the apartment rental units will not be W branded.
Marriott is entering the branded apartment rental space with W Cleveland in Ohio, the company confirmed to Hotel Dive in July. The W brand also has a portfolio of for-sale residential offerings.
Following the brand’s recent multiyear revamp, Marriott opened a renovated West Coast flagship for W Hotels in Hollywood, California, in October 2024.
W Hotels has since expanded to Las Vegas, and Marriott debuted renovated brand properties in New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey, last fall.
W Hotels’ growth comes amid Marriott’s broader push in the luxury segment. Marriott, among hotel competitor Hyatt, saw RevPAR gains driven by the luxury segment during the second quarter of 2026.
Before the quarter’s close, however, Marriott’s famed W South Beach announced its anticipated closure. The hotel will be converted under Hilton’s luxury Waldorf Astoria brand.
Marriott did not reply to a Hotel Dive request for comment on W Charlotte.
