Hamilton Hospitality Inc. is planning to invest at least $21.6 million into the development that was announced last September. The plan is for a Home2Suites and Hampton Inn & Suites. Collectively, they’ll have 160 rooms and a yet-to-be-identified restaurant. As part of the plan, the city is offering a Community Reinvestment Area agreement that would abate 100% of the commercial property tax for 15 years.
“What is especially important about this is just how it fits into the environment into the downtown,” said Hamilton Economic Development Director Jody Gunderson. “The developer in this one has just really listened well in what we’re looking for out of the development on that site.”
The project is at the corner of North Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and High Street, catty-corner from the One Renaissance Center and across High Street from McDonald’s. The total project, which includes the restaurant and hotels, is estimated to cost $28.8 million to build and expected to create 35 full-time and nine part-time jobs.
Once construction begins, it would take about 18 months to complete, Gunderson said, but when that begins is not just dependent upon City Council approving the sale and development agreement. Though the site has been a parking lot for about 60 years, it did have some industrial uses prior. The city has contracted a company for soil testing, and this environmental work will show areas that need remediation before it’s transferred to the buyer.
This process would not affect the deal, Gunderson said, and the city is now waiting on results of those tests.
Before Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill opened, Hamilton was a one-hotel town with the Courtyard by Marriott on Riverfront Plaza. But as the gigantic sports, entertainment and convention center complex has drawn thousands of visitors many weekends, it quickly became apparent the city did not have adequate accommodations.
The dual Hilton project would be the fourth new one to be built, and the third one since Spooky Nook opened the Warehouse Hotel on North B Street. A pair of boutique hotels will open in downtown, with the first being The Well House Hotel, another Hilton property, opening later this year. Mueller Hotel LLC will begin redeveloping the former city building at 20 High St. at the start of 2025 into a Marriott-branded boutique hotel.
Another hotel project eventually will be built at the Crawford Hoying construction site, which is the former Cohen Recycling plant at the corner of North Third and Black streets. They’re still in the planning phase of that multi-use development where they’re committed to a minimum $150 million investment.
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