BEST PERSON TO CHRISTEN THE REOPENING OF THE DAVENPORT HOTEL
Walt Worthy
Was there really ever any doubt? Walt Worthy won this category by a landslide, beating out such non-local interlopers as President George W. Bush and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Still, with the hotel in its final stages of renovation, we weren't surprised to find that christening the place is just about the last thing on developer Walt Worthy's mind.
"I haven't even thought about it," says Worthy. "Do you even christen buildings? I know you christen ships, but I don't know about buildings." Joking that he'd really like for someone to christen his checking account, Worthy admits that he doesn't yet have an opening date set for the hotel.
"Right now, the furniture is driving the show. The place we were working with first ended up not working out at the last minute, so we had to scramble to find a new vendor," he says, pausing to talk to one of the hundreds of construction workers, painters, pipefitters and assistants found working at the Davenport at any given time. "But the new furniture is really beautiful, so it's a change for the good."
We were happy to see not only that Worthy won two categories this year, this one and "Best Businessperson," but that many of you also voted for his wife Karen as deserving of the honor of being the one to christen the Davenport when it reopens. With phones ringing off the hook and thousands of details yet to be dealt with, however, both Walt and Karen were in a hurry to get back to work the day we spoke with them. And as we're oh-so-eager to see the Davenport in all its glory once again, that's just fine with us.
2nd: King Cole; 3rd: John Powers
