JW Marriott Hotel Prepares for September Opening

Grand Rapids - It's been changing the skyline of Grand Rapids for months now. It is the JW Marriott hotel along the Grand River.

The JW Marriott will open its doors to the media for the first time today for a glimpse of the 100 million dollar hotel. The JW will actually celebrate its grand opening in mid September. The 24 story glass tower rose into the Grand Rapids skyline over the past year or more. The hotel will have 337 guest rooms. There will be a ballroom that can seat one thousand people. The JW Marriott is truly meant to be a luxury hotel with 24 hour room and concierge service, a business center, fitness center, pool, and much more.

The hotel also has a 700 space parking structure on the south side of the hotel. Skywalks connect the hotel to Van Andel Arena and the DeVos Place Convention Center.

JW Marriott Grand Rapids General Manager George Aquino says DeVos Place was one reason to build the new hotel. He says with a convention center of DeVos Place's size, Grand Rapids should have about 2,400 hotel rooms within walking distance of the center. Currently, Grand Rapids only has about 1,000 nearby hotel rooms. The JW Marriott will obviously increase that number, although not to peak levels. But, Aquino hopes the Marriott will help attract larger conventions to Grand Rapids.

The luxury hotel's main restaurant is called 616, inspired by West Michigan's area code. Executive Chef John State wants to make sure the dishes served at 616 taste a little bit like home.

State is a Michigan native who has worked all over the world. He's learned to appreciate food that's grown locally. He makes it a point to visit the Fulton Street Farmers Market at least once a week to sample local foods through taste. Recently he tried peaches from Cannonsburg and squash from Belmont.

Most of all, he goes to the market to get inspired and to make sure the restaurant's ?eat local, feel global? theme comes through in what he plans to create for his guests.

State says, ?It was kind of a big determining factor whether relocate here to the state of Michigan, based on the fact that I needed to use seasonal ingredients. That's how I've been cooking in the last 10 years. For me I have to have that connection, locally. When I lived in California all the chefs were buying local. We have that same opportunity here.

State says about 40 percent of the globally influenced menu will center on local, home-grown produce. He explains, ?A goat cheese farm that we've contacted that they'll be delivering goat cheese to us once a week from Byron Center. The cool thing is you're going to see a lot of tomatoes, a lot of corn on the menu, but when that's gone the menu changes dramatically." In order to continue the local flavor, State is working to develop relationships with farmers. That way, he can plan ahead and figure out how to use what they plant.

The ultimate goal, according to State is to showcase how West Michigan's crop can become truly unique. He says, ?Whether we do quail or duck with blueberries or we do a blueberry dessert this will be a no brainer next year."

616 will be an intimate restaurant with seating only for about 90 guests. The JW Marriott is owned by the Amway Hotel Corporation, which also owns its neighbor across the street, the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

Amy Fox & Jennifer Pascua