The developer renovating Vancouver's landmark Hotel Georgia has signed a new manager for the property for when the hotel reopens in 2010.

Bruce Langereis, president of Delta Land Development Ltd., said his company has reached a tentative agreement with the Valencia Group, an upstart luxury hotelier based in Houston, Tex.

Part of the deal is that Valencia won't lay its brand name overtop the historic 1927 hotel's identity.

"It will not be the Valencia Hotel Georgia or Hotel Georgia Valencia," Langereis said. "It will just be Hotel Georgia."

Valencia operates properties in San Antonio, Tex.; San Jose, Calif.; Telluride, Colo., and Houston.

Late last year, the company signed with Red Mountain to develop a 75-suite boutique hotel at the Rossland resort.

Langereis said the Hotel Georgia will be a stand-alone hotel, but will also offer services, such as housekeeping, valet and spa treatments, on an a la carte basis to the neighbouring 47-storey Private Residences condominium tower that Delta is building next door.

Delta has just begun a major renovation of the Hotel Georgia, which will include seismic upgrading, a heritage restoration of its lobby and main ballroom. The rooms will double in size, reducing their number by about half to 170.

Langereis said his firm will "work very hard" to complete the renovation in time to open for 2010, or shortly after.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007