Even before its grand opening, this project drew considerable attention from the industry and general public with its desirable location and the high profiles of its developers. The hotel was featured in numerous publications including Forbes magazine.

UCI's involvement began at an early stage of the development in all aspects of the visual program, working directly with the owners and various independent consultants in interior design, lighting, and tabletop and artwork coordination.

To capture the philosophy of the hotel, which emphasizes elegance with attention to detail, UCI set out to create a visually uncluttered and individualized "residential" look in both graphic and sign items, and extended its areas further than normal to such minute items as telephone equipment, electrical switches, bathroom knobs, and audio/video equipment panels.

The numbering of the guestroom doors, which can be the dominant visual clutter in a hallway, was downplayed by being etched onto the cut-glass doorbell push plate. And to further reduce clutter, UCI incorporated a small diode illuminator in the brass sign/bell casing to function as the privacy indicator—a unique "three functions-in-one" solution.