Bunkhouse to Manage Belmont Hotel in Dallas

Susan Alarcon Appointed GM

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. November 18, 2008

DALLAS, TX, November 3, 2008. The Belmont Hotel, a beautiful 1940's courtyard hotel perched hilltop in the emerging Oak Cliff district, has announced a partnership with Bunkhouse Management (www.bunkhousemgmt.com), an Austin-based hotel

management and ownership company. With this new partnership, the property will undergo interior renovations with property upgrades being designed and supervised by Bunkhouse's management team and owner Liz Lambert. Other Bunkhouse properties include Hotel San Jose and the recently opened Hotel Saint Cecilia, both located in Austin, Texas.

Scheduled to be complete early spring 2009, the design renovations will include the hotel lobby, BarBelmont lounge and terrace. The new interiors will blend minimalist modern furnishings with a tasteful color palette for a timeless d'ecor with rich bohemian and Moroccan accents. Following in the summer of 2009, hotel guest rooms and suites will be enhanced with sleek mid-century inspired interiors.

Bunkhouse will also implement strategies that will enhance the guest room experience, update menu offerings in Bar- Belmont and Cliff Caf'e, and create a distinctive level of service and amenities that guests will enjoy time and time again. Bunkhouse has appointed Susan Alarcon as General Manager of the Belmont Hotel. In this position, Alarcon is responsible for all day-to-day operations of the 67-room property. Alacron brings years of sales and management experience to her new position, including three years with Neiman Marcus and over 18 years with Whole Foods Market.

The Belmont Motor Hotel was built in 1946 for the then astounding sum of $400,000. Nearly 8,000 cubic yards of earth and rock were moved to sculpt the cliff site to allow guests unparalleled views of the Dallas skyline. All of the latest building technologies available at the time were incorporated into the design and planning of the hotel. Built of fireproof masonry, it was one of the first hotels to offer year round air-conditioning. Similarly elaborate motor court hotels had been successful in California, and architect Charles Stevens Dilbeck took his inspiration from those examples, accenting a series of Moderne structures with Colonial-style details.

Considered to be a regional treasure, Dilbeck was a self-taught architectural designer who helped shape the architectural heritage of Dallas. Arriving in Dallas during The Depression, Dilbeck began designing homes in the new, affluent neighborhoods of Highland Park, Preston Hollow, Lakewood and Oak Cliff. As a designer he immediately sealed his reputation through his interesting and complex use of detail and architectural materials.

As the career of Dallas' most idiosyncratic architect progressed, the style of his work evolved from Ranch into the French Eclectic idiom, and finally into Moderne. By 1940s, Dilbeck was as renown throughout Dallas and North Texas for his motel architecture as for his residential work.

Since then the hotel had fallen prey to time's abuses. Local developer Monte Anderson, Options Real Estate Investments, assembled a new urbanist team of architects, designers and craftsmen to bring the wonderful though long neglected hotel back to its glory days. The impressive restoration was completed in late 2005. http://www.belmontdallas.com

BarBelmont, a favorite for locals, is the perfect place to rejuvenate after a long day. Sip tasty cocktails while relaxing to live music in the lobby lounge or on the terrace, while taking in the striking views. Cliff Caf'e, the restaurant at the Belmont Hotel, serves soul-nourishing comfort food three times a day, including brunch on Saturday and Sunday.

The hotel is located at 901 Fort Worth Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75208. Reservations can be made by calling 877.476.3378

or visiting www.belmontdallas.com.