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Dewberry moving into luxury hotel market
Former Tech quarterback branching out from mixed-use, office projects
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Dewberry is adding another job title to his resumé: hotel magnate.
The developer and former Georgia Tech quarterback is creating Dewberry Hotel Co., a luxury brand he hopes will resemble the high-end standards set by famed British hotelier Rocco Forte.
“I love his hotels,” he said of Forte, whose holdings include the Hotel de Russie near the Spanish Steps in Rome and the Hotel Savoy in Florence. “They are classic, elegant, clean, not over-designed.”
And the first hotel he’ll add to this new strategy will be the Wyndham Hotel he owns on 10th Street between Peachtree and Juniper streets. While he does not think it will carry the Dewberry Hotels name — he says the building physically doesn’t fit his vision for the chain — he will re-flag it at the end of August with a yet-to-be-determined name.
Dewberry, who is known for mixed-use developments and office projects like Peachtree Pointe in Midtown, hopes to open 10 Dewberry hotels over the next 10 years, he said. He is scouting locations in Atlanta, Washington, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, as well as some secondary markets like Charleston, S.C.
Interest in the hotel industry has grown over the years — especially in Atlanta — as demand has outstripped supply in some segments, like the luxury market and extended stay, experts said. While the weak economy has slowed the pace of hotel growth this year as it has other industries, lodging experts still see demand increasing over the next decade.
In Atlanta such well-known entrepreneurs as former Ritz-Carlton head Horst Schulze and Novare Chief Executive Officer Jim Borders have gotten into the game. Schulze has developed the Solis and Capella brands through his company West Paces Group while Novare launched Twelve Hotels in 2006.

ajc.com

In a news release Wednesday, the company said the plan approved by a federal bankruptcy judge in Richmond, Va., provides for the issuance of new stock and creates a new board of directors, including Movie Gallery chairman and CEO Joe Malugen.
“Movie Gallery is now poised to emerge as a competitive and financially stable company,” Malugen said.
Movie Gallery, which said it has almost 3,500 stores in all 50 states, announced earlier this week that it would close 160 more stores in a third and final round of closings. It already had closed 920 stores in the past year.
Hollywood Video at the King Soopers Plaza across from Home Depot on JFK Parkway was the first of the two regional Hollywood Video stores to close.
The Windsor location, which had been open for four years, closed in February.
The company’s financial troubles began after it acquired Hollywood Video in early 2005 to become No. 2 in the industry behind Blockbuster Inc.
Its stock traded above $30 a share for a time, but the acquisition cost it about $850 million, plus assumed debt of about $350 million, and competition increased from online networks such as Netflix Inc. and big-box stores such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

coloradoan.com

Randi Gorenberg was last video taped leaving the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton before she was found shot at a park outside of Delray Beach.
Newschannel 5’s, Danielle Dubetz spoke to her mother over the phone who said she planned to spend the day at her daughter’s grave.
Beyond the gates of Eternal Light Memorial Gardens, Randi Gorenberg’s body rests.
Randi’s mother Idey Elias told us this is where she planned to spend her Easter Sunday, alone, speaking only to her beloved daughter.
Over the last year we’ve heard her painful pleas.
"And every mother out there and every father knows how hard it is to bury a child and if you know anything, let me know please. Thank you," said Elias.
That was in June of 2007, about 3 months after Randi’s murder.
"She was the light. She was airy. She was bright. She was beautiful. She had a smile and she was a good friend to everybody," she said.
The last video of Randi alive was captured as she left the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton.
About 40 minutes later, she was shot in the temple and thrown out of her Mercedes SUV at the Governor Lawton Chiles Memorial Park west of Delray Beach.
It was broad daylight.
Five minutes after that, her 65 thousand dollar vehicle was taped driving through the Home Depot parking lot and dumped.
The case has received National attention. Re-enactments of the crime played on America’s Most Wanted.
Since Randi’s murder, some members of the family have found themselves in legal troubles.
Son, Daniel Gorenberg, has been arrested for prescription drug charges. Courts ordered him into residential drug rehab.
Husband, Stewart, has been arrested on charges of insurance fraud. His attorney said the charges are unsubstantiated.

wptv.com

NORTHAMPTON - A major retirement community developer has dropped plans to build 23 independent-living units off Rocky Hill Road.
Deaconess Abundant Life Communities notified the city’s Planning Department recently that it is not going forward on the project, which would have been built on Christ United Methodist Church property. The Planning Board allowed the organization to withdraw its application without prejudice last week.
According to Bruce W. Young, a land use and conservation planner, Deaconess came upon a major hurdle when the Conservation Commission discovered wetlands on the property that had not been previously noted by a contractor surveying the land.
By city ordinance, developers may not build closer than 50 feet to a wetland in that part of the city. The discovery would have precluded four or five of the independent-living units planned for the site.
The Rev. Herb B. Taylor, the president and chief executive officer of Deaconess Abundant Life Communities, said yesterday that the wetlands oversight - combined with the soft housing market - convinced the organization to reconsider.
“It didn’t become economically feasible to put the project forward,” he said. “Even in any market it would have been tough.”
Deaconess had planned to lease about 40 acres from Christ United Methodist Church, and rent some church space for meetings and coordinate services. Taylor said that services for the residents would have been connected with those at the Rockridge Retirement Community on North King Street, which Deaconess also owns.

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