Renderings: Hyatt Regency Orlando

Hyatt Regency Orlando is currently renovating two of its food and beverage venues, Rocks Bar and Urban Tide. Rocks will return in late December but Urban Tide is no more. It will be replaced with Descend 21, which will be more lounge-like and feature billiards and virtual golf.

The $8 million project is being coordinated by interior design firm Blur Workshop of Atlanta and Chicago’s GREC Architects.

Descend 21’s name is derived from the number of steps down the curved stairway from the lobby level. It will feature a central bar, hightop tables and lounge seating. There will also be an expanded outdoor area that will incorporate the landscaping of the resort’s pool.

Renderings show a decidedly more casual restaurant than the one it replaces. The menu will be under the direction of Romel Begonia, the hotel’s executive sous chef. Jared Gross, who had been the chef at Urban Tide, is now executive banquet chef at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando. D21 is expected to open in the first quarter of 2023.

Rocks Bar, which is directly above the restaurant space, is getting new furniture – banquettes and lounge seating – and an updated color scheme.

The hotel has also commissioned local muralist Maureen Hudas to create a feature wall. Hudas, whose works focus on themes of social justice, was the lead artist on a seven-story mural on Church Street celebrating Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood.