Wynfrey Hotel
The Wynfrey Hotel is a 15-story 329-room luxury hotel and conference center constructed in 1986 as part of the Riverchase Galleria shopping mall in Hoover. It is the area's second-largest hotel and is best known for hosting the annual SEC Media Days event, which attracts a large national press contingent.
The mall, hotel and associated office tower were jointly developed by Montgomery's Jim Wilson, formerly of the Aronov Realty Company and Colonial Properties. The name of the property combines Wilson's middle name, "Winfrey" with his wife's name, "Wynona".
The hotel's rooms are decorated with damask wallcoverings and Italian marble fixtures. Guests have access to a health club and spa, outdoor rooftop pool, the two-story Chancellor's Club, and the Chicory Grille and Shula's restaurants and Ivory's lounge. Shula's replaced the original Winston's restaurant in [[__]]. The hotel also has 32,000 square feet of meeting space accommodating up to 800 banquet guests or 1,200 for meetings and receptions.
A planned $8 million expansion of the hotel, with 74 new suites and a 4,800-square foot ballroom was designed in 1996 by Crawford, McWilliams & Hatcher Architects, but was never constructed.
The conference center's largest event is the Southeastern Conference's annual "Media Days", which began meeting there in 1988. After four years the event moved to the Medical Forum at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, but returned to the Wynfrey in 2001.
In 2009 the Davidson Hotel Company of Memphis, Tennessee was awarded the contract to manage the property, assigning vice-president Andy Peters as the Wynfrey's general manager.
In 2010 Jim Wilson & Associates defaulted on the Wynfrey's 2005 mortgage with Citigroup Global Markets Realty, placing the hotel in foreclosure pending renegotiation.
References
- Williams, Roy L. (May 14, 1996 "Wynfrey adding 74 rooms, suites." Birmingham News
- Williams, Roy L. (March 22, 2010) "Wynfrey manager Andy Peters talks hotels, sporting events." Birmingham News
- Cooper, Lauren B. (December 10, 2010) "Wynfrey Hotel in foreclosure". Birmingham Business Journal
External links
- Wynfrey Hotel website