Dec. 14, 2002 - A developer building a $50 million hotel in southeast Tulsa is not worried much by the city's shaken economy. 

"I'm old enough to have been through five recessions," said 83-year-old John Q. Hammons. "Tulsa will come back. Everything runs in cycles, and I play the cycle." 

The head of Springfield, Mo.-based John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc. was in Tulsa on Friday to check on the progress of his 300-room hotel at 6808 S. 107th East Ave. 

The nine-story, atrium-style Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center is in the final stages of construction and is on track to open in February. 

More than 500 workers a day have been on the project since it began in January, said Steve Rumsey, project manager for Flintco Inc., the general contractor. 

The facility, which will be affiliated with Marriott reservation systems, is expected to employ 240 to 280 people. 

Hammons said he initiated the project to meet the need for a large combined meeting and hotel space in Tulsa. 

The local economy may be in a slump, but Hammons said he is confident that by 2004 and 2005 things will be looking better. 

"Before we know it, we'll be moving in an upward direction," he said. 

The hotel's location was picked based on heavy retail and residential activity in the area and anticipated growth due to the extension of the Creek Turnpike around the city's southeastern edge. 

Hammons said he spotted the piece of property while flying in a helicopter with Bill Stokely of Stokely Advertising. 

"We rode around for about two hours looking at Tulsa, and it didn't take me long to see it was southeast," Hammons said. "That's where the growth is. That's where the growth will be tomorrow." 

The hotel sits on 12 acres of a 60-acre parcel that Hammons acquired for more than $7 million. 

Even as the hotel has taken shape in the past year, new restaurants and stores have filled in spaces to the east and west along 71st Street. 

"You put a hotel where the market is," Hammons said. 

The hotel's tower is visible from a distance, and the interior is unlike that of any other hotel in Tulsa. 

Meeting spaces include a 28,800-square-foot main ballroom and a 7,200- square-foot secondary ballroom. 

Among the hotel's features are glass elevators, a waterfall and ponds with koi fish, restaurants, dining rooms, a swimming pool, sauna, sun deck, bars, gourmet kitchens and smaller meeting rooms. 

Hammons said the hotel, which will be his 150th in the nation, is geared toward business conventions, trade shows and travelers. 

The Hammons company, which amassed $600 million in sales last year, owns property in 40 states. 

The billionaire owner also built Oklahoma City's downtown Renaissance Hotel, a 15-story, 311-room structure connected to the Myriad Convention Center. 

Nearby, Hammons is building an eight-story, 224-room Courtyard by Marriott. The project is a collaboration between Hammons and the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority. 

Hammons said he has no plans for a similar project in downtown Tulsa. 

"Tulsa has always had a good skyline and a strong downtown," he said, but right now he has no interest in investing in that area of the city. 

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(c) 2002, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. JQH, MAR,