FORT MYERS, FL – September 2, 2008 -- Robb & Stucky, one of North America’s largest home furnishings and interior design companies, is nearing the completion of the installation of furnishings for a soon-to-open nationally branded boutique hotel in Southwest Florida.

Scheduled for a late November opening, the 67-room Hotel Indigo Fort Myers has been developed by DOC Economou Ventures, LLC, owned by DOC Ft. Myers II, LLC, a franchisee of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and is being managed by DOC Hospitality. Under construction for the last year, the new seven-story $12 million hotel will be the first multi-story project of its kind in the newly revitalized Fort Myers Historic River District.

The Indigo brand was developed about five years ago and is IHG’s entry into the increasingly popular boutique segment of the hospitality industry. Boutique hotels are generally smaller and provide a higher level of personalized services for the transient business travelers. Currently, there are 25 Indigo Hotels in major cities within the United States, plus one in London and many more in the development pipeline.

Describes Dan Lubner, President of the Resorts Division for Robb & Stucky, “While we have handled many hotels and resorts in the past, providing interior furnishings for a branded hotel requires specialized design services since franchised brands must have a uniformity and consistency of style. To accomplish this, we must work closely with the hotel company to ensure that corporate design standards as well as budgets are met down to the very last detail.”

Phillip E. Hugh President and CEO of Development Opportunity Corporation (DOC) knew of Robb & Stucky from their joint association with the Florida Repertory Theater, also located in downtown Fort Myers. After several meetings, he was confident that Robb & Stucky would be the ideal company to furnish the company’s new hotel. “Not only were there specific design standards to meet,” he said, “it also came down to cost per key. Robb & Stucky was very creative with a number of options and their selections easily made it through our brand approval process.”

Added Bob Haury, President of DOC Hospitality, “Robb & Stucky has designed, manufactured, shipped and inspected furniture that was brand specified by IHG. Everything is ready for installation . This provided us with unparalleled logistical and customer services. It was a superb fit. We were so pleased with the relationship, that we are moving forward with them on another project, a 121-room Staybridge Suites hotel in downtown Milwaukee with Robb & Stucky providing the same interior design services.”

Robb & Stucky veteran designer Terry Hall spent over a year working with Brad Rowley of Chicago-based Economou Partners and the IHG staff. Projects of DOC-ECONOMOU VENTURES LLC, a collaboration between two longtime leaders in the development industry – DOC Corporation and Economou Partners – include a $3.5M renovation of the Holiday Inn in Fort Myers’ downtown historic district, development of a mixed-use project in Pittsburgh’s East End, featuring a hotel, condominiums, retail and office space and development of a premier site within Pittsburgh’s South Side Works development, featuring a luxury hotel, condominiums, restaurants and retail space.

“It took many meetings before submitting our Hotel Indigo plans,” said Hall. “Every single piece of furniture – including luggage racks, chairs and bathroom vanities – required corporate approval. We began with a manual of several hundred pages, which outlined what needs to be in each room. Because this was a sleek, trendy, urban hotel, we created public spaces we knew would appeal to guests who are frequent travelers. We narrowed some of the specified furniture, created night stands with marble tops in a clean contemporary design, and specified hardwood flooring, wall coverings and light fixtures. We manufactured the mattresses for the all-suite hotel with king-sized beds in each unit. Except for the upholstered items, every piece of furniture was custom made. Additionally, we provided space planning for the rooftop swimming pool, sundeck and bar as well as their offices. Since the Hotel Indigo in Fort Myers is a pet friendly hotel, this resulted in other special design requirements.” Concluded Haury, “It is important to understand that all this work was being done while the hotel was under construction, which provided additional design challenges. In the end, they were able to design and develop high-end furnishings that not only met, but also far exceeded brand standards for Hotel Indigo. We are extremely pleased with this special collaboration.”

Added Fort Myers Mayor Jim Humphrey, “The city is excited about the addition of the Hotel Indigo to our River District as it brings to our downtown area a Class A hotel that will accommodate business visitors year round and enable these guests to discover the beauty of the City of Palms.”

About a year after the hotel’s opening, Robb & Stucky will send someone back in to do touch-up work and a service technician to ensure that everything has been properly maintained. “This is just another special service we provide for our hotel clients,” says Lubner, who is the leader of the company’s international and commercial expansion efforts. “We have completed similar furnishing packages for dozens of condominiums and hotels and are committed to providing the same high level of design and delivery service to clients located domestically or abroad.”

Marge Lennon

Lennon Communications Group

1435 Claret Court

Fort Myers, FL 33919

Office: 239-482-3891

Cell: 239-841-0553

marge@lennoncommunications.com