The development partners will begin work in September to convert the Santa Fe IV warehouse into a 195-room aloft, believed to be the flag's first adaptive reuse in the nation. The eight-story structure, built in 1926 at 1033 Young St., will be the closest hotel to the convention center. The aloft project's cost will come in just under $40 million, Ted Hamilton, partner in the father-son local company, tells GlobeSt.com. His father, Larry, is spearheading the makeover of the 12-story Dallas Plaza Hotel at 1011 S. Akard St., which right now is the convention center's closest hotel neighbor. Work on the 252-room hotel, being renamed to the View, will begin in November.

The Hamiltons, who are among the pioneers of the city's in-town redevelopment push, are planning to use the bookend-projects to launch a new hotel company with the Irving-based SAVA. Ted Hamilton says the details are still being worked out, including the name.

"We've been in the business in a passive sense," Larry Hamilton says. "These will be the first two that we've done as the prime mover." The company has a passive ownership in the Magnolia Hotel in Dallas and Houston. In fact, it was the elder Hamilton who convinced his friend, Steve Holtze, CEO of the Denver-based Stevens Holtze Corp., to raise the Magnolia flag in Dallas.

The Hamiltons plan to use their alliance with Aperture Concepts, also a local firm, to add two more specialty brand restaurants to the Downtown street scene. The partners have the "Fuse" in their two-tower DP & L Flats at 222 Browder St. and will be starting work this week on the "Scene," a 6,400-sf venue on the ground floor of their loft project, the Mosaic at 300 N. Akard St. The aloft's restaurant, still to be named, will fill 3,500 sf of street-level space. The View's restaurant, dubbed the "Flight," will open to an outdoor deck and pool.

The Hamiltons plan to open the aloft in late 2008 or early 2009, allowing for a 16-month construction schedule. The View, which will be shuttered for its overhaul, will come on line in late summer 2008. The aloft will flank the north side of the convention center and the View sits on the south--just one block apart.

"Both of these have a lot of possibilities," Larry Hamilton says, "and being distinct helps their respective districts in stimulating the environment and providing synergy."

The Hamiltons and SAVA are buying a two-acre parking lot to provide space for the aloft, which is in the process of being cleared for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The warehouse's railroad tunnel, which is intact, will be retrofitted into 14,000 sf of exhibition space, a perk that Hamilton believes will win convention business. Likewise, the eclectic aloft brand is expected to win favor because the rooms aren't standard convention fare. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. of White Plains uses the flag to play off its "W," incorporating concrete and brick into designs. The Santa Fe IV already has all that. "The building is perfect for it," Ted Hamilton says. A ninth floor will be added to incorporate five penthouse suites, fitness center and rooftop pool into the project.

The View, built in 1972, lost its Ramada flag several years ago. The Hamiltons bought the 235-room asset out of foreclosure in March 2006 and brought it on line as the Dallas Plaza Hotel. Acquisition and renovation costs will total $28.5 million, according to Larry Hamilton.

In gaming out the overhaul, Larry Hamilton has added rooms. There will be three cabana suites beside the restaurant and 10 suites with hip and chic themes on the penthouse floor, taking the room count to 252. "It will be a hotel with whimsy," he says.

The hotel's 6,000-sf ballroom, doubling as meeting space, will be preserved as will a 2,500-sf meeting room on the top floor. Each guest room has a wall of glass, leading to a balcony, which will be replaced with energy-efficient panes plus new balustrades set in place.

The goal is to update the asset "without canceling out the architecture that's there," Larry Hamilton explains. However, he says the porte-cochere will be removed and replaced with "an architecturally interesting vestibule."

The Hamiltons have gotten a $2-million tax incentive grant from the city to redo the streetscape and the pedestrian bridge connecting the View to the convention center. Andres Construction Co. of Dallas is the general contractor for the aloft. SAVA's affiliate, the One Group is the architect for the two hotels and will be the general contractor as well for the View.