Hilton Hotels honored HRI Properties with its Best Conversion Award for rebuilding the King Edward Hotel in Jackson, MS. HRI is renovating the historic property into a 186-room Hilton Garden Inn plus 64 apartment units, 187 on-site parking spaces and 2,910 square feet of retail space, an $82-million investment.

All of the grandeur from the original hotel will be restored, including the lobby, rotunda, pre-function spaces and its neo-classical exterior. The construction launch ceremony was held in March in the soaring lobby of the hotel, which was a famed Jackson landmark since opening in 1923. Governor Haley Barbour was on hand for the event.

“We are thrilled to bring the King Edward back to commerce as the premier hotel in downtown Jackson,” says David Watkins, the local partner on the project. “This is the work of a lifetime for me personally and landmark moment in the history of downtown Jackson.”

Watkins has pushed for the project for over four years after the landmark property sat idle for much longer.