John Portman to receive ALIS Lifetime Achievement Award

John C. Portman, Jr., chairman of John Portman & Associates, Inc., Portman Holdings, LLC, and AmericasMart, will be honored with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in recognition of his vision and innovative designs, which have had a profound impact on hotel and public space design. ALIS will be held January 24-26, 2011, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, which is, incidentally, a Portman designed and developed hotel.

Early in his career Portman pioneered the role of architect as developer to allow more freedom in implementing his design concepts. Portman is best known for his urban mixed-use complexes, from Embarcadero Center in San Francisco and Times Square in New York to Marina Square in Singapore and Shanghai Centre in China. In his hometown of Atlanta, the 14-block Peachtree Center complex attests to his commitment to the downtown business district and includes many of his landmark projects. Although the project began in 1960 with the opening of the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, it was with the opening of the Hyatt Regency in 1967, with its 22-story atrium, that Portman made architectural history and won international acclaim.

“Recognized throughout the world for his innovative design, John Portman has been a tremendously successful developer and architect who has made meaningful contributions to the hospitality industry for 50 years,” said Jim Burba, ALIS Conference Chair. “Always eager to try new concepts, his keen business sense and entrepreneurial spirit enabled him to develop many profitable projects, including his famed atrium which is credited with launching Hyatt as a major brand.”

In 1997, Portman was inducted as an Academician of the National Academy – Museum and School of Fine Arts in New York. In 1996, the Angel Orensanz Foundation elected him member of the Senate of the Accademia Internazionale d’Arte Moderna. He has served as a board member of the Atlanta College of Art, and is Trustee Emeritus of the Atlanta Arts Alliance. He has also served as a director of the Atlanta High Museum of Art. The Georgia Institute of Technology, his alma mater, presented him their highest honor, the Exceptional Achievement Award in 1986. His numerous architectural awards include a lifetime achievement award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in 2009, the Silver Medal Award in 1981 for innovative design from the Atlanta Chapter AIA, and the AIA Medal in 1978 for innovations in hotel design from the National American Institute of Architects.

Co-hosted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and Burba Hotel Network (BHN), ALIS is a two-and-a-half-day event that features an extensive array of seminars and panels hosted by leading experts and investors discussing important trends and identifying new opportunities. The conference attracts the lodging industry’s leading hotel executives, investors, lenders, developers and professional advisory community. Proceeds from ALIS benefit the educational, research, and training missions of the Educational Institute (EI) of the American Hotel & Lodging Education Foundation (AH&LEF), AH&LA’s nonprofit affiliate.