Reuben Margolin Sculpture the Nebula at Hilton Anatole

When the Hilton Anatole in Dallas' Market Center district completes a $125 million upgrade this fall, the centerpiece will be a 100-foot-long, crystal-clad suspended sculpture called The Nebula.

An amalgam of 10 miles of cable, 1,780 pulleys and 4,500 amber crystals, the light-reflecting "wave" will hover 50 feet above new eateries and an indoor piazza in the largest of the hotel's two atriums.

The renovation marks the end of the largest upgrade at the 31-year-old hotel since a 27-story tower was added in 1984 to host Ronald Reagan and the Republican National Convention.

And it'll be completed about 16 months before a major new competitor - the Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel - enters the market.

The facelift was at least partially spurred by the hotel's changing its name from Wyndham to Hilton. But it's also designed to supply some lost sheen to help the storied inn lure conventioneers.

"It gives us a solid year and a quarter after the refurbishment is done to show off what we've done," said Jay Best, director of sales and marketing for the Hilton Anatole, which he described as "the icon of Dallas" when it opened in 1979.

"Over the years, it lost some of its luster. It was outdated," he said. "With this renovation, we're anticipating that the Anatole will once again have that icon feel."

Situated on 45 acres north of downtown Dallas on Stemmons Freeway, the Hilton Anatole began life under the Loews banner and switched in 1995 to Wyndham Hotels, the chain founded by legendary real estate developer Trammell Crow. The flag switched to Hilton in 2005, but Crow Holdings remains the owner, Best said.

The new identity sparked the early phases of the multi-year renovation. Hilton required that the 1,606 guest rooms be "brought up to brand standards," he said. The atrium project goes beyond the Hilton mandate, Best said.

The renovation began with improved carpets and linens in the guest rooms, flat-screen TVs, the opening of VSpa and the addition of Gossip Bar, named for a bronze sculpture by Danish artist Bjorn Wiinblad.

The $25 million atrium phase began paying off in February with the opening of Media Grill + Bar, a 7,500-square-foot restaurant and bar with an interactive light table that responds to touch.

Workers this week were busy laying wooden planks for an Asian-themed pavilion called Jade Tea House while others prepared the framing for Counter Offer, a wine bar with grab-and-go foods.

Soaring overhead will be The Nebula from San Francisco artist Reuben Margolin, who has similar large-scale, motor-driven pieces displayed in New York, Switzerland and Mumbai. Parts of the sculpture are being created on the West Coast and will be trucked to Texas next month, when Margolin is to start assembling what will become the hotel's largest piece of art.

"We're trying to create this as a piazza or a town square," Best said, describing flowing waters and shade trees.

For now, the cacophony of jackhammers and drills mirrors the sounds echoing from the under-construction convention center hotel, which is set to open in early 2012.

If the Anatole's backers had their way, the city-owned Omni wouldn't be opening at all.

Real estate mogul Harlan Crow, son of Trammell Crow, bankrolled an anti-hotel referendum that was defeated last year.

He was critical of the plan to have the city undertake the $500 million hotel project, calling it "the height of folly," given the region's sagging occupancy rates.

Best was reluctant to get into the politics of the hotel debate.

"We'd rather not have another 1,000-room hotel competing for the same business," he said. "We didn't want a direct competitor coming in to potentially steal business from us."

The Anatole, which is the National Football League's headquarters hotel for next year's Super Bowl, has hosted politicos such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and local favorites such as Lance Armstrong.

Though the Anatole is only three miles from the convention center, it is still at "a disadvantage to the Sheraton and Hyatt" hotels downtown for convention business, Best said.

"We're the last to fill and the first rooms to cancel when there are other rooms that open up," he said.

The moribund economy added even more cancellations.

The Anatole's receipts fell 22 percent last year to $44 million, according to state tax records.

The "drop was all due to the economy," Best said. "We had significant group cancellations in 2009 due to corporate cutbacks and attrition" with groups that had booked rooms.

While the renovation can't do anything about the economy or the distance to downtown, Best says the renovation will only help to attract new business.

"With the downturn in the economy, this was the perfect time to bring the Anatole back up to its icon self," he said. "When the economy is back on solid ground, the Anatole will be in a perfect position."