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Plans to open a West Elm hotel in the Bottleworks District have been scrapped, but the developer says it still intends to include a hotel in the massive redevelopment project along Mass Ave.
Wisconsin-based Hendricks Commercial Properties, which is overseeing the $300 million project at 850 Massachusetts Avenue, said it plans to use its own subsidiary—hotel and restaurant operator Geronimo Hospitality Group—on a replacement for what had been planned as a 143-room hotel.
Geronimo is known in Indianapolis as the operator of the Ironworks Hotel at 2721 E. 86th St.
“West Elm is no longer a part of the Bottleworks Hotel plan for Indianapolis,” Hendricks said in written comments Thursday morning.
Work has been well underway for the West Elm project over the past several months, with workers meticulously restoring the former bottling plant that will be incorporated into the hotel. Hendricks said most of the infrastructure work has been done on the lower two floors of the three-story hotel.
“The goal for our the Bottleworks hotel remains the same,” the company said. “We are restoring these beautiful buildings, we are building a lasting legacy, and we are transforming part of the former Coca-Cola bottling plant into an iconic boutique hotel to be enjoyed by the Indianapolis community.”
The new hotel will be called the Bottleworks Hotel, Hendricks said.
Ironworks general manager Amy Isbell-Williams has been assigned to the Bottleworks Hotel, where she will work in the same role. Michael McClain, director of rooms for Ironworks, will replace Amy Isbell-Williams.
The change comes as West Elm and parent company Williams-Sonoma Inc. re-evaluate plans for hotel developments around the country. Williams-Sonoma is involved in a legal battle with the hotel management company involved in the West Elm concept, DDK Hotels LLC. DDK has accused Williams-Sonoma of breaching contracts and not working in good faith.
Indianapolis was one of six cities selected in 2016 as initial markets for the new West Elm concept. The other hotels were to be built in Detroit, Minneapolis, Charlotte, North Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. None of the other hotels have opened. West Elm projects elsewhere in the United States also are being put on hold.
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The article notes that work has been done on the lower two floors of the three-floor hotel, but the artist renderings surrounding the construction site show a taller building with a rooftop pool – are those plans being scrapped as well?
The current renderings appear to show a 3 story building (two 2 floors hotel), with roof top bar. There are still taller buildings (roof top pool included), but I believe they are all residential/office.
We are excited about the changes to the Hotel and the direction it is heading. This change will not affect other portions of the project and construction is on schedule. The pool on top of the office tower will coincide with condos being built.