Jan. 11, 2008 at 12:33am

USA Today : Glass Ships to Be Featured in Hotel Murano

What makes Tacoma attractive and alluring to the world? Glass of course.  Nowhere in Tacoma have I seen visitors enamored with Tacoma more than on the Bridge of Glass.

Here's today's edition of  USA Today, a national newspaper on Hotel Murano, our glass hotel:

Investor Gordon Sondland of Seattle is working on his sixth art-themed hotel, the Hotel Murano, which is in Tacoma. Last month, Danish artist Vibeke Skov flew to the hotel to install three colored glass Viking ships ranging in length from 12 to 16 feet. The ships hang from the four-story atrium corridor.

...

Sondland, the Seattle hotel developer, tends to feature works of local artists in his Provenance chain, which includes Hotel Preston in Nashville and Hotel Max in Seattle. He's building the Murano, home of the glass ships, in a converted Sheraton built in the 1980s.

Here's what the Murano Hotel says about itself.  And a bit risque at that:

Hot Piece of Glass

Immerse yourself in glass. We provide a luxurious room in the new Murano where more than 40 glass artists from around the world have gathered to share their masterpieces. And with two tickets to the Museum of Glass (a “must-see” in the Pacific Northwest), lessons on glassblowing at the Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio, take-home gifts and of course, valet parking, guests will no longer be a glass virgin!

My prediction : When the Russell company announces it will stay in Tacoma, Hotel Murano will be a big part of it.