Exotic destination

Davenport Hotel owner Walt Worthy is projecting an early “soft” opening — most likely between Christmas and New Year’s — for his Davenport Tower, a 328-room, 21-story hotel being built across the street from the historic hotel.

The tower’s official opening will be timed to coincide with the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, to be held in mid-January. The Davenport is the headquarters hotel for that event.

“The effort people on our team have put forth is beyond belief,” Worthy said of the construction crews, which began building the pre-cast concrete high-rise in April.

The tower will have an African safari theme with large elephant head busts adorning the lobby and giraffe statues outside the entrance to the bar. Hotel rooms include chaise lounges in leopard print and paintings of zebras and elephants. The hotel restaurant will be called the Safari Room Fresh Grill and Bar.

“We didn’t want to go head to head with the Davenport because we knew we’d lose, so we tried to go in a little different direction,” Worthy said of the décor. A 150- to 200-space parking garage is being built behind the hotel.

The hotel will contain 171 king-sized bedrooms, 133 rooms with two queen beds, 18 suites and six honeymoon suites. It will offer wireless and wired high-speed Internet access. The tower adds 6,000 square feet of meeting space for a total of 36,000 square feet throughout both the Davenport and the tower. Guests also will have access to all Davenport Hotel services.

The new hotel will include an exercise room with a swimming pool and a 24-hour business center. All guest rooms are equipped with LCD flat-screen high-definition televisions and three telephones with voice mail. Bathrooms include large, tiled walk-in showers and marble countertops.

When the tower is finished, the Davenport Hotel management offices will be moved into the fourth floor, and that space in the original hotel will be used for meeting space, Worthy said.