Loews Annapolis Hotel To Begin Major Renovation

 is scheduled to begin a major, multi-year renovation starting in the first week of the new year.

The work will include renovating the lobby, guest corridors and guest rooms. Some of the other major changes include doing away with the current Weather Rail Lounge and  restaurant and creating a new restaurant/lounge.

"What we're doing is not so much a renovation, as it is a transformation from the moment guests walk in the door," said Ellen Gale, spokesperson for Loews Hotels.

Gale said creating a more appealing West Street presence is part of the renovation.

"This will definitely have curb appeal," she said. "It will be good for the West Street corridor."

The check-in area will be moved from its current location and the main focus will be a large mosaic of a ship's sail, Gale said.

"One thing that sets Loews apart from other hotels, when you go into a Loews Hotel, you do have a sense of place," Gale said.

The new restaurant, yet to be named, will be designed to have a casual vibe.

"Our style of food will be very different from what we offer, but it will still have a Chesapeake Bay influence," Gale said. "It's not going to be formal. It's going to be very comfortable—where Annapolitans will want to come."

Throughout the renovations, a dining facility will remain open, though how long it will take to open the new restaurant is not certain, she said.   

"We're hoping late spring, early summer," Gale said.

The general contractor for the job is the Brasfield & Gorrie LLC, a Georgia-based company responsible for several high-profile government, commercial, recreational and educational complexes, mostly in the southern United States, including the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium, according to its website.

According to an article in The Baltimore Sun, Loews took over the hotel in 1990.  It was originally built in 1986 as the Annapolis Hotel, on a site formerly used as a power substation and dairy, according to the same article.

This would be the reason why the adjacent building, which serves as conference, banquet and meeting space, maintains the name it does—the Powerhouse.

"We just completed a renovation and sprucing up of the 100-year-old Powerhouse," Gale said.

She estimated the entire renovation, including the 216 guest rooms, will take up to three years.

"It's just time for a good sprucing up," said Gale, who declined to comment on the total cost of the project.