The Westin Peachtree Plaza recovers from tornado damage

One of Atlanta’s beautys, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, was damaged during the tornado that hit the area on March 14. The 735-foot cylinder building is the tallest hotel in the city and one of the oldest. It has 73 floors and its outer structure is composed of glass held together by steel. It has long been seen as one of the romantic spots in Atlanta because of its beautiful revolving rooftop Sun Dial Restaurant.About 100 guest room windows were blown out by the storm causing the hotel to have to relocate some of its guests. There were no injuries reported but the glass, sundial elevator that runs on the side of the building was completely destroyed. Walking through the building you barely notice any changes. It’s flooded with people and small conventions. Everyone still seems to be smiling and enjoying the uniqueness of the hotel. As you get toward the back of the building however, you see tall metal construction railing wrapped in yellow tape reading “Caution”. White paper stretches up the poles as well, covering up damage and a flight of stairs. The hotel has set large poster boards asking people to continue pass certain points. Walking around you notice that there are freshly repaired windows indicated by the tools lying right beneath them.The tornado was a surprise to Westin employee Theodore Lucas. “It was wild,” he said with a look of shock on his face. Lucas is Top Flight Security at the hotel and was working the night the storm hit. “I was about to go across the street to get some McDonalds and a lady told me a tornado was about to hit,” he says, “I looked at her like she was crazy and said ‘Tornados don’t hit in Atlanta’ and went over to McDonalds.” Lucas laughs. He says he did notice the weather was bad but it simply looked like a lot of wind to him and therefore he didn’t take it serious. “When I got outside I realized that a tornado was coming,” he says, “So I ran back into the hotel right before they began locking the doors.” Lucas says he saw huge chunks of ice and glass was falling down. He said he couldn’t see the complete damage to the building until the next day and his reaction was simply “wow”. “I just couldn’t believe it,” he said, “I was wondering if we were going to close. I was just really uncertain about the future of the hotel and my job,” he added. Lucas says he was thankful that the hotel did manage to stay up and in business. He says that the hotel was only running at 25 percent for about four days after the storm, however the are now fully operational. Lucas says that most of the damage is glass damage so to prepare for reconstruction they are taking the first steps and boarding up windows. “I’ve heard it may take anywhere from one month to eight months,” says Lucas, “It depends on how quick we can order the glass and get crews out here to work on it.” He says that the hotel didn’t have an emergency plan for situations like this and that they still have not updated or made future plans on what to do during harsh storms. Mr. Lucas says he is just happy that he still has a job and the hotel is up and running. He says they have not yet released the total amount of damage caused, but he doesn’t think that it’s as bad as it looked before. “I love my job,” says Lucas, “But now I know tornados can hit downtown!”