Change, they say, is permanent. And after years of stepping over vagrants in downtown Tacoma just to get into a burger joint, I’m totally OK to see new life breathed into these old buildings. Right now I’m thinking about the place where I work, the Hotel Murano. This building was originally a Sheraton, and at 26 stories it really dominates the skyline. I’d walked by here for years, and, though I never stayed here or anything, it seemed nice enough – but I’m a visionary kind of guy, and I liked to fantasize about what the place could become.

Enter Portland’s Provenance Group, which has a habit of buying older hotels and tricking them out with “boutique” concepts. Check out their work at Seattle’s Hotel Max or Portland’s Hollywood chic Hotel deLuxe . The team at Provenance has given this Tacoma property a thorough once-over, installed tens of thousands of dollars worth of blown glass from the likes of Dale Chihuly and others, and have turned an okay three star hotel into what is quite possibly the largest “boutique” hotel in the country. Like Sinatra would say, that’s fabulous, baby.

cheers

Josh

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