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The Palms Tanning Resort’s Imaginative Architectural Design Helps Customers “Escape the Ordinary”`

12/26/2003

The Palms Tanning Resort helps customers “Escape the Ordinary” with a unique and innovative architectural design unlike any other tanning salon in the world.

Greenwood Village, CO (PRWEB) December 26 2003--Keith and Holly Rodenberger took their vision for a unique, resort-like tanning salon, brought in a renowned design-build team, and created their award-winning, nationally acclaimed business, The Palms Tanning Resort.
“This trendy, upscale tanning salon is unlike any other in the country,” says project architect, Arley Rinehart of Denver-based Arley Rinehart Associates. And their clients agree.
Clients from top executives at Fortune 500 companies to the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders tell Keith and Holly that the best time of their hectic day is when they visit The Palms.
“We had a dream and wanted to make it a reality to give tanning salon customers a real choice, a real escape from the ordinary,” says Keith Rodenberger, co-owner of The Palms.
From a 2,610-square-foot “vanilla shell,” or empty retail space, Keith and Holly worked effortlessly to create an “escape from the ordinary” that would meet their highest expectations for a truly unique resort-like tanning salon.
Without prior indoor tanning industry experience, Keith and Holly did extensive research to understand the many aspects involved in building their salon. After visiting numerous tanning businesses across the country, they realized that what they envisioned had never been built before; it was a truly revolutionary concept for the indoor tanning industry.
Keith sketched out numerous conceptual ideas for The Palms and looked into possible materials for the salon, realizing it was going to be “quite an endeavor.”
He interviewed many Colorado contractors and builders over a period of six months before deciding on Newcastle Construction.
The Denver-based building company impressed Keith and Holly with their ability to build high-end, unique commercial and residential concepts.
After Newcastle representatives met with Keith, they realized that the vision Keith had for The Palms was going to be very different from any other retail space tenant finish they had ever built before. Newcastle brought in award-winning architect Arley Rinehart to take on the distinct and complicated design challenges.
And then the real work began – taking the dream and making it a reality.
As mentioned in his firm's biography, Arley Rinehart's works have been celebrated by awards from many professional organizations and have been published in a variety of journals and books in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Arley Rinehart Associates utilized a vigorous design process to incorporate the needs of the “dream salon,” including the site needs, materials that would be used, and other unique qualities of the project.
From analyzing the site to scrutinizing the program, from interviewing Keith and Holly at length, to exploring the functional and psychological aspects of the goals for the salon, the architectural firm took in all of the information and incorporated it into the final design drawings for the project.
“We try to design the dream first, and then look hard at the budget and tailor the plans to meet the needs of our clients,” says Mark Raeburn, a designer working with Arley Rinehart Associates.
“We began with the gateway of the waterfall at the entrance to the salon to really capture the essence of being transformed to another world – transition to a resort atmosphere,” suggests Arley Rinehart.
From the design phase, Newcastle Construction came in to convert the retail space, incorporating the necessary materials to build the dream that Keith and Holly envisioned.
Another important factor that Keith and Holly had to deal with was the project's completion timeline.
“We knew that we needed to open in early 2003 in order to bring in the clientele as they got ready for spring break. We were really on a tight timeline to build the salon and open the business,” says Keith.
“Much of the construction wasn't typical off-the-shelf stuff. The doors, walls, ceilings, floors, and indoor waterfall are just a sample of the extensive custom work that went into the development of this project,” says Fred Bauer, PE, AIA, of Newcastle Construction Services.
“Every phase of the construction was exciting,” adds Fred.
After walking by the nine-foot waterfall, guests have a choice of going to distinct “villages” along the left and right hand sides of the salon. There are bamboo huts along one side and stuccoed abodes on the other – giving a distinct island feel to visitors.
From the custom granite-top reception desk, to the 12-foot theater wall and rock flooring, to the bamboo flown in from the Philippines, The Palms Tanning Salon incorporates truly custom ideas and concepts in the development of the island-like getaway.
Keith was onsite during the whole process.
“Keith and I talked maybe ten times every day during the project,” say Bauer. “He didn't try to replicate a design – he wanted to make something new and different.”
For Keith, it felt like he “was watching a child grow up.”
“I helped raise it —- it's not just retail space to me, it's a place where people are transformed from this world – an escape from their everyday lives.”
In only nine months of operation, The Palms has brought in over 4,000 customers and sold over 25,000 tans. With their gross earnings, they're now in the top 9% of all tanning salons in the country.
Realizing the uniqueness of the tanning salon and all that The Palms has to offer, their customers drive in to visit from all over Colorado, including Breckenridge, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs, as well as the Denver Metro Area.
“We took our time to make sure that the salon was built just as we envisioned it. We wanted to create a very unique and exciting atmosphere conceptually and physically that would make our customers want to come back time and again – so it had to be the absolute best and it had to be different from any other tanning salon in the world,” Holly explains.
The long hours and hard work that Holly and Keith invested in the business started to pay off as soon as they opened their doors for business.
They have won numerous national awards and accolades, with recognition for “innovative salon concepts;” “superior customer service and satisfaction;” “outstanding branding” incorporated throughout their marketing/promotional materials; and recognition for the salon's unique d?cor and stylish image. Locally, they have also received exciting rave reviews for their tremendous success, which has helped to put The Palms on the map in Denver.
In addition, Holly has also used her many years of corporate skills to help launch the franchise process for The Palms. The Palms is one of the youngest tanning salons ever to offer franchises and “thus far, the response from potential investors has been overwhelming”, states Holly.
“We've created a signature salon that gives our customers the chance to escape the ordinary,” says Keith. “They leave refreshed and renewed, ready to take on the rest of their day.”
For a virtual tour of The Palms Tanning Resort and for more information about Holly and Keith Rodenberger and their award-winning tanning resort, please visit The Palms on the web at www.ThePalmsTanningResort.com.

Written by Jan Dowker from Simply Organic, The Palms Tanning Resort's Public Relations company.

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