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(NEW YORK, NY) -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. isn't waiting for the leisure market to recover - it is moving ahead quickly with new design and branding concepts.

In the process, the international  lodging  company  is also consolidating office space and lowering its investment needs for new quarters down the road.

The White Plains, NY-based hotelier announced today it  will be relocating its Manhattan-based luxury and design-led brands from Chelsea to new headquarters space Downtown on Varick Street, where the SoHo and Tribeca districts meet.

Global marketing, brand management and design teams for W Hotels, Le Meridien, St. Regis and The Luxury Collection will join Starwood's Bliss and Remede Spa teams to form a design, branding and retail think tank.

VM Design Studio in New York will lead the renovation of Bliss and Remede Spa's existing 20,000 square foot office space at 75 Varick St. When the redesign is completed in September, Starwood will unveil a modern office space for 150 associates.

The work is being done at this time because Starwood is "of course sensitive to the current economic environment," says Phil McAveety, Starwood's chief brand officer.

"By consolidating the two offices, we will derive efficiencies which will offset the investment needed to create this new brand and design space," he adds.

McAveety says that while the new space is under construction, the design, marketing and brand management teams will temporarily move from their current space in West Chelsea's Starrett-Lehigh Building to Starwood's global corporate headquarters in White Plains, NY.

The Starwood executive says the team merger plan for a creative hub is ideal because Bliss and Remede Spa brands employees "work closely with our hotel brands  to develop signature spas and bath amenities in our hotels around the globe."

McAveety says Starwood has 145,000 employees at 940 owned and managed properties in 97 countries.

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