City turns to hotels to help house homeless through pandemic winter
The usual plan, which involves packing people closely on as many cots and mats as Wheeler Mission’s shelters can hold, isn’t an option under social distancing guidelines.
The usual plan, which involves packing people closely on as many cots and mats as Wheeler Mission’s shelters can hold, isn’t an option under social distancing guidelines.
The 139-room hotel will be among the first components of the $300 million Bottleworks District to open. Additional tenants—including retailers, restaurants and entertainment-focused businesses—will begin opening early next year.
Work travel represented 21% of the $8.9 trillion spent on global travel and tourism in 2019, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. How much of that business will return after the pandemic is uncertain.
The now-vacant land quietly went up for sale in July. It’s now under contract along with Drury Hotels’ Pear Tree Inn at 9320 N. Michigan Road
With travel and convention business continuing to stagnate and COVID-19 cases on a steep rise, many properties find themselves scrambling for long-term loan solutions and pleading for help from lenders.
Work on the ritzy Mass Ave hotel has continued throughout the pandemic, despite delays to other projects around the city. The Bottleworks campus food hall is slated to open in January.
The American Hotel & Lodging Association report is meant to underscore what the lobbying group says is a critical need for additional stimulus ahead of Congress breaking for its October recess.
Six months into the pandemic, conveying warmth is the new hot topic among hoteliers and restaurateurs. Some are coming up with new ways.
Indiana Sports Corp. released a 16-page proposal Friday that calls for turning the convention center’s exhibition halls and meeting rooms into basketball courts and locker rooms. There would be expansive safety measures and daily virus testing.
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday night voted unanimously to issue up to $155 million in bonds to pay for an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center at Pan Am Plaza.
The 110,000-square-foot hotel is situated between the Monon Trail and Veterans Way in Carmel, just south of City Center Drive.
The full City-County Council is expected to vote on the proposals next month. After that, the financing will need to be approved by both the Metropolitan Development Commission and the Indianapolis Bond Bank.
Ratio is architect for the $550 million project by Kite Realty Group Trust that includes a Signia Hilton, an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and—eventually—a second, 600-room Hilton-branded hotel.
Leisure demand rises, but hotels are sorely missing business travel and group events like conferences and weddings.
A third of planned downtown hotel rooms announced before the pandemic are now on hold.
The $300 million hotel will be the most expensive and elaborate new lodging project built in the city since the $450 million JW Marriott complex was completed in 2011. And it will compete directly with the JW.
The city will not subsidize construction of Kite’s two hotels on the site but will ask the City-County Council to authorize a $150 million bond to finance an addition to the Indiana Convention Center.
The project, which includes plans for a $125 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, would also create 2,500 construction jobs before completion in 2025.
The project, expected to cost as much as $550 million to construct, has been in the works for years as Kite and the city worked to reach an agreement.
The immigrant from Taiwan is deep in research and development for his new role as executive chef at Vivante, a French restaurant opening in Carmel’s luxurious Hotel Carmichael on Aug. 4.