First Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel opens in Michigan

Plans for the 5-story 113-room hotel started a couple of years ago. Built by Rockford Construction, it's a project with a $15M price tag.

The hotel is aimed at business travelers featuring pre-registration, self-serve automated kiosks for check-in and 24 hour food service. But, it also accommodates families, including those who need a place to stay that is close to Metro Health.

Some of the LEED-related features include: in-room motion sensors to control heat and lighting and the use of green cleaning compounds. According to Morgan Burkett, Vice-President of Oxford Development Co., "We're taking all of our leftover shampoo and soap products and we're recyling them onsite into a slurry that we then convert into basically a laundry detergent. So, all of our pool towels, all of our terry towels, kitchen towels will be washed with products from our guest rooms."

The Hyatt Place isn't the first local hotel built to meet LEED certification. The JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids and City Flats in Holland were also LEED projects. But the Hyatt Place is the world's first Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel. The business helped to bring 30 new jobs to the area.

"We had 120 highly qualified applications and it took a lot of processing to get to the top 30," said Burkett. "But it is really a credit to this community. The quality and caliber of staff we were able to procure for this hotel is the best that I've ever seen. I've been in the business for 40 years."