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A local developer has revived plans to build a hotel on the south side of downtown near Lucas Oil Stadium—and this time it intends to fly the flags of two hotel brands instead of just one.
Members of Kaur Properties LLC, which in 2019 received approvals for a planned Avid hotel just south of Interstate 70 at 324 W. Morris St., now hope to build a dual-branded hotel on the 1.3-acre property.
The 135-room Candlewood Suites and Avid—both of which are flags of Intercontinental Hotels Group—replaces the earlier concept that called for 104 rooms. Work on financing and construction for the earlier project was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The postponement led IHG to rethink how Kaur could best execute the then-$10 million Avid project, Kaur representative Adam DeHart told the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission hearing examiner on April 10. That ultimately led to the developer also incorporating the extended-stay Candlewood brand, he said.
According to Steve Alexander, principal of Indianapolis-based design firm Prince Alexander Architecture, the group behind the hotel project also has evolved.
The group, now known as Emrich Hotel LLC, consists of the four original owners of Kaur, as well as Alexander and a few other minor investors, he said. Prince Alexander is also the architect on the hotel project.
DeHart, a project manager with Carmel-based firm Keeler-Webb Associates, said the hotel will be the first dual-branding of its kind in the United States.
An updated project cost has not been made public.
The hotel’s rooms are expected to be split almost evenly between Candlewood and Avid, said DeHart, who did not return voicemails requesting comment for this story. An attorney representing the developer also did not return a voicemail.
The Avid is an IHG flag that debuted in 2017, focusing on price-conscious leisure and business travelers. While IHG has 116 hotels across the state, only two are Avids—both located within the Fort Wayne area. There are about 80 Avid hotels across the United States, most located in markets smaller than Indianapolis.
Candlewood Suites has 14 locations across the state, including six in central Indiana. The brand focuses on longer-stay customers and offers suites with kitchens and free laundry.
During the hearing examiner meeting, the hotel developer received preliminary approval for modifications to its site plans, including variances of development standards tied to building setbacks and landscaping requirements.
It also secured approval to terminate a 2019 commitment related to the building’s design, which called for the structure to be complementary to the Emrich Plaza convenience store and Marathon gas station located on the lot directly to its south, which the developer also owns.
The hotel, oriented north-to-south, would nearly abut the convenience store, based on current designs in public record. The eastern and western portions of the site would consist of parking areas, connected to one another by a two-lane driveway on the north end of the property.
DeHart told the hearing examiner that the hotel will have a drop-off area near its south end, while the main entrance will be on the west side of the building. Both entrance areas will lead into the hotels’ shared main lobby.
The approvals, contingent on final authorization by the Metropolitan Development Commission, require the developer to submit its final design and landscaping plans to the city architect. It also allows for a portion of its landscaping to be placed within a city right-of-way near the entrance ramp to Interstate 70 East, given the proximity of the property line to the ramp itself.
Both the Old Southside neighborhood and the Stadium Village Business Association authored letters of support for the project and the variance requests.
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A suburban motel “the building’s design, which called for the structure to be complementary to the Emrich Plaza convenience store and Marathon gas station located on the lot directly to its south” without any urban context. One hopes that at the very least there may be a sidewalk for the price conscious traveler to use; if not, they may have to drive to Lucas Oil Arena or other downtown venues so close but without a pleasant walking path oh so far.
The intersection of Morris and West Street, at I70 is a nightmare already. Both sides of Morris narrow to one lane when cars park in front of the homes on Morris, all while that one lane, if east bound, is at a standstill if somebody is trying to turn into the gas convenience store. They can’t turn due to stacked/stopped cars at the light, trying to turn north, trying to get onto I70, while its at a stand still. And they are going to add a hotel that enters and exits there too? I get it Mr Alexander has a stake in the area, but he of all people should know whats going to happen. They are making a nightmare for all who live in the area. People already fly down the neighborhood streets to try to get around the grid locked traffic during rush hour. I am all for progress, but lets do a bit of forward thinking too. We all know, they are going to jam it thru, and suffer consequences later. Just like the apartments at S. Meridian and Morris, that were built so close to the corner of the intersection, where they made the lanes too narrow for two wider vehicles, and made it impossible to turn south if somebody ignores that white line (meaning don’t pull forward of this line). Like I said……progress with NO forward thinking. Ugg
If I plop the little Google guy down at the West/Morris intersection, you can barely tell that you’re even in a city. West Street was engineered to be a mega-highway. In fact, I might be wrong, but I think at one point it was going to be another freeway, completely boxing in downtown Indy.
You seem vastly more concerned about cars getting through in an area that is barely one mile from Monument Circle. If you live in the area, do you think that parking lots, high-speed traffic, and hotels that look like they would sit at the side of the freeway in Lebanon are going to make that neighborhood more desirable? If you wanted to go everywhere by car, why not move to Fishers or Avon or about 90% of metro Indianapolis?
What Lauren said. I know that neighborhood is trying to reboot and is making some progress, but to be frank, it’s going to be really hard to do that without burying the highway below grade or some sort of major project that we all know the state of Indiana wouldn’t either pay for or allow.
Who am I to tell investors how to spend their money but this project isn’t appealing at all. Im not arguing that Indy doesn’t need more hotels to accommodate visitors for events in the city but Lucas Oil Stadium lacks true mix use development around the surrounding area. Lucas Oil Stadium seems slightly outdated in design compared to the new stadiums built in other markets. Besides the retractable roof and large retractable window, the stadium lacks a true sports district surrounding it. It literally just sits to itself with nothing of true significance around it but the convention center to the north is where everything is located.
1) It was built in the midst of a brown filed area.
2) I understand why they cocked it diagonally on the site, but it wastes a lot of space making it dead and empty right around the stadium.
Ugly as hell, good lord. We should have a great, walkable sports district around the stadium, not cheap garbage.
100 percent agree. This is not an attractive build around stadium. Looks very suburban. Could have dual branded this hotel in a design congruent that of a downtown stadium district and this is not it.
This is south of the freeway. North? Yes.
Shame on all involved in this monstrosity.
This is as ugly as the Tru by Hilton at Illinois and Russell, opposite the main post office and Lucas Oil. It too is a Prince Alexander design project – cheap and ugly!
This is one ugly part of town, sad because Lucas Oil generates so much traffic and convention/even business. Stadium already getting outdated, and the neighborhood around it is and always has been quite sad — parking lots that are mostly empty, minimal landscaping, and absolutely no “urban” feel or vibe. It is extremely utilitarian, and, did I say, a pretty ugly space? Out. Dated.
The house I was born in back in the 1950s had the same kind of fence as depicted in this rendering. Mom hated it, said it lacked “class.”
LOL. Downtown is the new suburb. When you build something like this, it kills any real urban development in the future.
Ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!