Luxury hotel brand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Manchester Texas Financial Group have announce the signing of an agreement for Fairmont to manage a new city centre hotel slated to open in 2015. 

The Fairmont Austin will be located directly east of the Austin Convention Center, at the northeast corner of Cesar Chavez and Red River Streets. 

The $350 million concept will be crafted by the project’s architect, Gensler Austin, to accommodate additional upscale features reflective of Fairmont’s luxury design and service aesthetics.

For example, the planned number of rooms will likely be reduced from 1,035 to approximately 1,000 – allowing for larger guestrooms and suites, explains Todd Runkle, managing director of Gensler Austin.

“Fairmont represents one of the strongest and most luxurious brands in the hospitality industry,” said Doug Manchester, president of MTFG.

“Our alliance with Fairmont will establish a new high water mark for convention centre hotels industry-wide.

“We diligently set out to find the right operator that was willing to go above and beyond with a special vision tailored for the Austin market. Fairmont is doing just that.”

The 50-story hotel, which features over 70,000 square feet of function space, will rise approximately 580 feet, making it the second largest structure on downtown Austin’s skyline, which is currently dominated by the 56-story, 680-foot Austonian. 

The project will mark Fairmont’s second hotel in Texas and join The Fairmont Dallas, located in the heart of the Downtown Arts District.