White Lodging Services welcomed clients and guests to downtown Austin today to watch the final beam be put in place to complete Hyatt Place Austin Downtown’s structural construction at a Topping Out ceremony.

“Thanks to the leadership of our project management and construction team, we are happily celebrating this critical milestone 3 weeks ahead of schedule,” said Deno Yiankes, White Lodging’s president and CEO, Investments and Developments. “Our pre-opening sales team is experiencing very strong interest in booking activity, and we look forward to bringing another first-class lodging option to the downtown market in early spring of 2013.”

After signing the beam at the neighboring Max’s Wine Dive, 207 San Jacinto, in Austin, White Lodging associates, members of Hunt Construction, representatives from Hyatt Hotels, hotel clients, employees of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau and city officials watched as it was put in place, completing structural construction.

“We are pleased with the progression of the project and relationships being built with the City of Austin and the subcontracting community as we transition into the finishes phase of the building,” said Tim Wuestefeld, construction manager with Hunt Construction.

The 296-room Hyatt Place Austin Downtown is scheduled to open in Spring 2013. The hotel has already begun to secure guests such as Keller Williams, Texas Municipal League, the National League of Cities in November 2014 and the 2014 Annual Meeting for the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. The Hyatt Place Austin Downtown is White Lodging’s 21st hotel in the city.

“It’s been so exciting to watch the hotel grow during construction,” said the hotel’s Director of Sales Lori Hughes. “Now that the skeleton is complete, I can’t wait to watch the hotel continue to be built out and ready for our guests to begin arriving.”

Hyatt Place Austin/Downtown is located in the heart of downtown and just steps to the Austin Convention Center, the Sixth Street entertainment district and over 50 restaurants. It’s also just 15 minutes from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and minutes away from The University of Texas and major companies including AMD, Whole Foods and Silicon Labs.