Team behind acclaimed The Grey restaurant to open 3 new concepts
James Beard Award-winning chef Mashama Bailey and restaurateur Johno Morisano, the team behind Savannah restaurant The Grey, have partnered with Hilton to bring three culinary concepts to the Signia Hilton Savannah, a huge new hotel set to open in 2028 next to the Savannah Convention Center on Hutchinson Island.
The partnership brings one of Savannah’s most acclaimed hospitality teams into one of its largest hotel projects. The Signia Hilton Savannah hotel is expected to serve tourists and convention attendees while also attracting local diners.
Signia Hilton Savannah will be the city’s newest convention hotel
Bailey and Morisano are the team behind The Grey, one of Savannah’s most awarded restaurants, which opened in 2014 in a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal in downtown Savannah. They also run Grey Spaces, the Savannah-based hospitality and lifestyle company, and L’Arrêt by The Grey, a bistro with Southern influences in Paris, which opened in 2025.
Bailey won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2019 and in 2022 became the first Black woman to win the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. She also serves as chair of the Edna Lewis Foundation and this year was named one of the Time100 Most Influential People for 2026 and won North America’s Best Female Chef Award 2026 from the World’s 50 Best organization.
“I’m very excited,” said Bailey in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the partnership with Hilton. “Its going to be this huge hotel that offers really unique views of the city.” She is especially excited that Grey Spaces will be able to offer three different dining experiences across the hotel’s all-day restaurant, lobby bar and rooftop venue, which will provide panoramic views of the Savannah River and the city.
“When I went to see the site, I was like, oh, this is going to be really special,” Bailey said.
Signia Hilton Savannah adds hospitality for convention center
Owned by the Savannah-Georgia Convention Center Authority and developed in partnership with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, the 444-room hotel will be managed by Hilton and have more than 34,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 13,000-square-foot ballroom, five food and beverage venues, an outdoor pool and Club Signia.
Bailey and Morisano are not ready to discuss specific plans for the menus, but the concepts will likely be an extension of the Grey Spaces philosophy: “Southern food on the move.” The emphasis will be on coastal cuisine and include Mediterranean influences.
Bailey said she envisions the hotel to be both a fun place to stay and a fun place to work.
“As always, our goal is we want Savannahians to go there,” Morisano said, referencing specific area residents whom he could imagine enjoying Negronis on the rooftop. He thinks the commanding views from across the Savannah River will be a big draw.
The Grey will remain one-of-a-kind in Savannah
Morisano emphasized that many details and logistics still need to be finalized, including deciding on names for the new spaces. He said that he and Bailey have lists of potential names that they have considered for various concepts.
“I’m protective of The Grey and don’t necessarily want to do multiple versions of The Grey in different places,” said Bailey. “I want each place to have its own personality, its own driver, so the food is going to reflect that. The name’s going to reflect that.”
“Savannah is a city with extraordinary culinary heritage, and chef Mashama is a defining gastronomic voice and trailblazer in the community,” said Brian Abel, Hilton’s senior vice president of food and beverage operations development for the Americas. “What she and Johno have built at The Grey is a testament to their love for this city and its story,”
“The partnership between Signia Hilton Savannah and Grey Spaces showcases what makes Savannah such a special destination for meetings and conventions,” said Kelvin D. Moore, senior vice president and general manager of the Savannah Convention Center. “As our headquarters hotel, Signia Hilton Savannah will be an extension of the convention experience, giving attendees an authentic connection to Savannah through its local culinary and hospitality partners.”