A first look inside the new JW Marriott uptown

Details: The luxury hotel, the first for the brand in the Carolinas, is part of the Ally Charlotte Center, which also includes a 26-story office tower anchored by Ally Financial.

• The hotel is 23 stories, and features both standard guest rooms and 34 suites.
• It will house a spa, a rooftop pool and bar and two restaurants: Dean’s Italian Steakhouse and Caroline’s Oyster Bar.

Zoom out: The hotel industry was hit hard by COVID-19, and some projects in Charlotte, like the Intercontinental Hotel at the Carolina Theatre site, were put on hold. Though the Delta variant adds uncertainty to the economic recovery, some of that business has begun to return.

Tom Dolan, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, said demand is picking up compared to six months ago, though corporate business is slower to come back.

• The hotel has 22,000 square feet of event space — ample room for large events like weddings, which are roaring back after a year of cancellations and postponements.

The big picture: The Ally Charlotte Center is part of a wave of construction along Stonewall Street. Developer Lincoln Harris is building Honeywell’s headquarters as part of the 10-acre Legacy Union project, Duke Energy is underway with a 40-story office tower and a $127 million expansion of the Charlotte Convention Center is nearly complete.

Here’s an inside look at the hotel: