Embassy Suites is coming to Downtown Louisville
George Dwight
I always thought Downtown Louisville could use a few more hotels. Apparently somebody with some money agrees with me. The Hilliard Lyons Center is to be demolished starting this month and converted into a mixed-use project. The project will be anchored by an Embassy Suites Hotel. The seven-story, which was built in 1907, stands on the corner of Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.
The project was announced seven years ago by Florida-based developer and Kentucky native Eric Bachelor. Business First reported in May the plans for the mixed-use development had been revived. Bachelor has partnered with Louisville-based Al J. Schneider Co., a hotelier and office tower owner, to get the ball rolling. Schneider Co. president Mary Moseley recently said demolition work on the historic building will begin before the end of July, but was unsure of how long the demolition portion of the project would take.
The site, which was also the former home to Stewart’s Dry Goods, is planned to receive an $80 million investment in Bachelor and Schneider Co.’s plans. The project will include a 300-room Embassy Suites Hotel, 100,000 square feet of office space, and 30,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on the ground floor.
There are other hotel projects in the news for Downtown Louisville. Rosemont, Illinois-based hotelier First Hospitality Group Inc. and Louisville developer Bill Weyland announced plans just last week for a Hilton Garden Inn. This development, which is planned for South Fourth Street between Jefferson Street and Mohammed Ali Boulevard, is tentatively planned to eight stories tall.
Since April, there have also been news reports swirling that The Cordish Cos. plan to build a four-star hotel on the old Louisville Water Company block. The building is cater-corner to the Hilliard Lyons Center and will have 600 rooms. Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. is the developer of Fourth Street Live! and the currently-proposed $245-million City Center project.
