Yea, I saw this last week. Glad to see the transition finally making it’s way to the facade.

I’d be happier if they replaced that giant gray monolith with a shimmering blue paint job covering the entire building.

The sign looks nice.

Thanks for the link, Aroma. Seriously tho, coffee.

So now that the art is coming and the sign is changed, when can I book my room?!

I’m with driz, as well, new building paint job!

my kid says “blue with glitter” and offers up her automatic glitter paint gun Christmas present.

I think the sign is cool, but I’m left with a niggling thought “but it doesn’t mean anything?” —I’m graphic by nature, and an S or an H or a BMW brings to mind a product. Variegated blue, though pretty, makes me go “huh?”

Probably the best way to view that building is through glass. Get yourself a telescope and look through it backwards.

Dan:

Are you kidding me? That indifferent customer service IS the makeover.

We couldn’t let Seattle have all the self-aware trendy hotels, now could we?

Well, I suppose that for restaurants you could choose from Altezzo Ristorante & Bar, Broadway Grill, Pacific Grill, Sea Grill, Fujiya Japanese Restaurant, Varsity Grill, Galanga Thai Cuisine, Tacoma Club, and Djembe Soul or go for a quick Quiznos sub or Emerald City Smoothie. Most of these are less than one hundred yards from the hotel. This of course doesn’t count the many great places on Pacific on either side that might require a longer hike from Matador to Gaucho.

Your going to have to go about 600 yards to get to the theater district and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, the Pantages Theater and the Rialto. For the adventurous they could go a little more than half a mile to the Grand Cinema and the Blackwater for coffee and a movie, but the selections are usually worth it. To really get your exercise on, you could walk the mile (come on, you can do it!) to and from the Tacoma Little Theater and take in Wright Park while heading there and back.

If you are here in that classy hotel for the museum visits, the Tacoma Art Museum and the Children’s Museum of Tacoma are approx 500 yards away and if you make it that far, go the additional 500 feet to the Museum of Glass (it’s the Murano, you must) and the Tacoma Historical Society at the WA State History Museum or the Working Waterfront Museum.

Pamper yourself at the Savi Day spa at the hotel or cheat on the Murano by going to Biella at the Courtyard by Marriot.

Of course right next door you have the Tacoma Convention Center. I wonder if there will be any out of town visitors heading there I wonder? Hmmmm. Maybe.

There is also the University of Washington, Tacoma which has had many a distinguished guest in the past and is only increasing in that number.

Plus, if you want to fudge on the walking question, you are right be the link which can take you to the Tacoma Dome and all that entails.

For the Murano’s take on what is nearby check here. http://www.hotelmuranotacoma.com/tacoma-attractions

I think you can scratch Altezzo, Djembe Soul, and I think the View at the Tacoma Club went back to private member dining.

There are many great places to eat in the downtown area. It is just that the Hotel Murano has to have the worst location for a boutique hotel in history. I’ve been involved with two conventions that used the Sheraton and to a person they begged us never use the Sheraton again. The hotel was fine, they all said the neighborhood was the problem. Most of the people attending were familiar with convention hotels all around the world and the Sheraton was the worst, in their estimation by far. Sadly we will give the Hotel Murano another shot this spring. We have hopes but it will be a hard sell to convince people it will be better than it was two years ago. My Tacoma pride just can’t take too many more jabs from the people we want to be proudly hosting.

I hate to say this… but I think this will only take of if there is “real” shopping nearby, such as Pacific Place in Seattle. People who are staying in an unfamiliar place (like a hotel!) want to go to shops they know, not necessarily to little Mom and Pop shops scattered all over a city that does not have a great reputation. I’ve seen talk on exit133 about a shopping mall on the old post office parking lot? Love it or hate it, people will GO to the Gap and Old Navy and Williams Sonoma, etc in droves. Walk 5 blocks through a still iffy neighborhood to see Morrocan furniture? Not so much. But I have to admit, there is getting to be a GREAT selection of restaurants downtown. Now they need the shopping to get people out on the streets, and I don’t mean dealers and panhandlers.

Andrew,

The problem is that there isn’t much around 13th. It’s two blocks to the Convention Center and the first sign of life (Sea Grill and Pacific Grill) and the other way it’s a dead block until you hit Fujiya and the Varsity Grill. Nothing up hill, nothing downhill. The hotel is stuck in a dead zone of night time activity, which means leaving your hotel at 8:00 at night for a drink is going to be a few blocks before you get anywhere. It’s probably fine during the summer, but the hotel really needs some activity much closer by. I’d love to see them do something with the acres of parking they have on Broadway … a multistory parking structure on the back half combined with more rooms and retail on Broadway might be good for them.

That all said, I was the coordinator for a convention of travel writers in town in 2003 that stayed at the Sheraton, and they were all taken with Tacoma, and we didn’t even have a Link up and running at that point. The specific neighborhood of the hotel didn’t seem to be a problem for them.

“take a breath, please” these future convention folks and the week to week visitor will find “ safety” & some FUN-trust me on that-I plan to help them in everyway possible to make it memorable and repeatable-“we are good to go” -Period !

Agreed,Erik B and the Luzon space (retail-lower lever -2 sides. South Parking Garage retail -Pacific & Commerce again an opportunity to place “a Taste of Tacoma” all within walking distance to #1320 Broadway. Be patient-it is happining and Wintergrass 08 and other events are on the calender !!

Sea Grill, Pacific Grill, Varsity Grill, Broadway Grill, I’m sensing a theme here. Maybe that’s the ticket. We will be known for the grill based dining that abounds in downtown. If it can’t go on a grill it is not worth eating. Let the battle of the grills begin and may the best grill win.

Mr. Sepulveda,

We have never met, but you seem to have a lot of bitterness about that part of town. I am a repectable young woman and I have been known to walk around there (sometimes stumble, truth be told) late at night without fear of bodily harm or a shortage of things to do.

If we’re going to talk smack about a neighborhood, let it be about somewhere more deserving!

Love,

Sassy

Frankly, I don’t put much convidence in the downtown merchant “blaaa” ….they are clueless and focusing on the wrong battles……..and whether they want to admit it, I wish their whinning about outside retail would stop and they would embrace it……so the fact they don’t talk about the area around the Murano, doesn’t really bug me…not to mention, it’s probably better for the hotel that they don’t ………along with the mayor/council I put them in the same blame for the lack of REAL retail in downtown for our outside visitors to shop at…….anyways……just my two cents

Ms McButterpants,

We probably haven’t met, but it is not entirely impossible. I am far from bitter about the 13th and Broadway area. Quite in fact I see as a vital part of all that is downtown. I am glad to see the area has so many supporters and visitors amongst the locals. The first thing that needs to happen for an area to get better is for people to stand up for it and I’m seeing this in spades. I could be all wrong about my perceptions, maybe the area is doing fine and will only be doing better once the Hotel Murano transformation occurs. Maybe my standards for a workable downtown are all wrong. I wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong and it probably won’t be the last. Far be it from me to go against the prevailing wisdom of the masses.

This “shift in the text” towards #1320 Broadway” is appreciated. Many employee’s of that address have #20 plus years of “serving others” and are very excited about Hotel Murano and the GIFT it shall be to the City of Tacoma’s guests. “not perfect”, but Proud ,we welcome all of the Exit #133 friends to experience the Hotel Murano. Much is yet to be done to have a finished look, however the BEST IS YET TO COME !

well, the idea of what the “locals” want in the minds of the downtown merchant “bla” is not even close…………..what we really want is what out of towners would want……..plus a great grocery store………..anyways…I think their all smokin dope with their thoughts and it’s funny, the more that they don’t participate with attracking outside retail, the more I shop out of Tacoma……..they are clueless……..if they really wanted to be a success, they would actively participate with attracting outside retail….frankly, it’s their only hope for survival……the downtown marchant group is just as bad as our council and mayor……….completely clueless and working against any effort to attrack TRUE developement of downtown………the leaders of the DOWNTOWN MERCHANT GROUP are CLUELESS!!!!!…………….they are bringing everyone down……….the key to success in downtown is attracking outside developers and visitors to stay……not little mom and pop hair places….given me a break…..bla, bla, bla……….how many local salons do we need……………when are you guys going to wake up and attrack some real retail……hello…how many messages have talked about the visitors in Tacoma wanting real RETAIL….names we all know……..stop the parking insanity………..stop the whinning…let growth hit downtown………………..long, weekend…I’m done…..

Oh, as far as safety int he downtown area…except for a few dark places, downtown at night isn’t too bad…….the stairs next to the south parking garage are pretty bad at night, but that should be fixed with the remodel job……..but, the sure way to fix this whole problem is of course to have plenty of feet on the street after dark…especially in the winter……..say some evening shopping followed by late happy hour…..

Thanks Jenyum for the positive comments. Trust me, we are directing the visitors in a very safe and sane direction daily. With the help of the BIA and the TPD etc., experiencing a “slice of the City” is my personal forte and many others . We are all entering a “new era” in Tacoma and truely the “very BEST is right around the cornor for Tacoma. The positive’s far outweigh the negative’s-do the math !