LouisvilleJake
Dec 2, 2003, 7:35 PM
Plans were announced today for a 90 room boutique luxury hotel at 7th and Main in downtown Louisville. It is a 90 room hotel that is built in 5 historique structures. The rooms will be centered around an atrium and modern art room, plus an upscale restaurant. Completion is set for September 2005.
2 pictures, plus a brief description is located on the architect's website...also other pieces of work by them to et a feel of the type of work they'll be doin in Louisville.
http://www.dberke.com/architecture/sleepers/1.htm
Story from Courier-Journal
West Main Street between Fifth and Ninth streets has a lot going for it, including the Kentucky Center, Louisville Slugger Museum, Louisville Science Center and a planned arms museum.
What it doesn't have is an upscale hotel to help those attractions lure overnight visitors to town. But that's about to change.
Plans will be announced today for a 90-room hotel with a contemporary art museum, which will occupy five historic buildings wrapping around the southwest corner of Main and Seventh streets.
The $22 million project is expected to be completed by September 2005. Mayor Jerry Abramson and other local leaders will unveil the plans at a press conference today.
The development will be called 21C, as in 21st century — a name chosen to reflect its contemporary design and contemporary art.
It's "exactly what we've needed" on that stretch of Main Street, said Carol Hensley, executive director of the Main Street Association. It will help efforts to draw people to shops and attractions there, she said.
The project is being developed by a group headed by Louisvillians Steve Wilson and his wife, Laura Lee Brown, who also operate Kentucky Bison Co. Brown is great-granddaughter of Brown-Forman founder George Garvin Brown. A centerpiece of the project will be a 5,000-square-foot contemporary art museum, housed adjacent to the hotel lobby in a five-story atrium.
It will display Brown and Wilson's personal collection of art, plus occasional visiting exhibits. Admission will be free.
The hotel-museum will be managed and marketed in partnership with Wyndham International, a Dallas luxury hotel firm. Wyndham will also manage a swank restaurant on site.
Rooms will rent for about $150 to $175 and will have features such as flat-screen televisions and high-speed Internet access.
The project will be designed by a noted New York architect and will be "contemporary and sleek and exciting, " Wilson said.
While furnishings will be contemporary, as much of the original buildings as possible will be retained, including brick walls, wood floors and tin ceilings.
"We're not going to be adding any superfluous decorative architecture — it's going to be pure to the building," Wilson said. "You don't be seeing any French carpeting or gilded cornices."
The exterior of the buildings will be largely unchanged, except for a new modern entrance on the Seventh Street side, he said.
The four-story buildings are at 700, 702, 704 and 706 W. Main St. and 112 S. Seventh St. The latter building houses Bunbury Theatre, which has said it will move.
Dating from the late 1800s, the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. That means their restoration will qualify for federal tax credits.
In addition, the city of Louisville is providing $1.7 million and the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority has approved the project for up to $3 million in state incentives.
21C will be designed by New York architect Deborah Berke, whose projects include three public buildings in the planned community of Seaside, Fla., and the new School of Art building at Yale University. Berke has taught at Yale since 1986.
Berke will collaborate with K. Norman Berry Associates, a Louisville architectural firm that has worked on projects to redevelop other historic Main Street properties over the years.
Works of art, in addition to being in the museum, will spill into the hotel's lobby and other public spaces. The museum will feature contemporary artists including Chuck Close, Andres Serrano, Bill Viola, David Hockney and others. It will only feature living artists.
The museum and hotel will be within a block of the Louisville Science Center, Louisville Slugger Museum, Kentucky Center, and Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design.
It's also within a few blocks of the planned Muhammad Ali Center, Glassworks, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and an arms museum that will open at Ninth and Main.
"We think (21C) is going to be a missing link (that) is needed," said Wilson, explaining that it might help attract people to Louisville for "an arts weekend."
2 pictures, plus a brief description is located on the architect's website...also other pieces of work by them to et a feel of the type of work they'll be doin in Louisville.
http://www.dberke.com/architecture/sleepers/1.htm
Story from Courier-Journal
West Main Street between Fifth and Ninth streets has a lot going for it, including the Kentucky Center, Louisville Slugger Museum, Louisville Science Center and a planned arms museum.
What it doesn't have is an upscale hotel to help those attractions lure overnight visitors to town. But that's about to change.
Plans will be announced today for a 90-room hotel with a contemporary art museum, which will occupy five historic buildings wrapping around the southwest corner of Main and Seventh streets.
The $22 million project is expected to be completed by September 2005. Mayor Jerry Abramson and other local leaders will unveil the plans at a press conference today.
The development will be called 21C, as in 21st century — a name chosen to reflect its contemporary design and contemporary art.
It's "exactly what we've needed" on that stretch of Main Street, said Carol Hensley, executive director of the Main Street Association. It will help efforts to draw people to shops and attractions there, she said.
The project is being developed by a group headed by Louisvillians Steve Wilson and his wife, Laura Lee Brown, who also operate Kentucky Bison Co. Brown is great-granddaughter of Brown-Forman founder George Garvin Brown. A centerpiece of the project will be a 5,000-square-foot contemporary art museum, housed adjacent to the hotel lobby in a five-story atrium.
It will display Brown and Wilson's personal collection of art, plus occasional visiting exhibits. Admission will be free.
The hotel-museum will be managed and marketed in partnership with Wyndham International, a Dallas luxury hotel firm. Wyndham will also manage a swank restaurant on site.
Rooms will rent for about $150 to $175 and will have features such as flat-screen televisions and high-speed Internet access.
The project will be designed by a noted New York architect and will be "contemporary and sleek and exciting, " Wilson said.
While furnishings will be contemporary, as much of the original buildings as possible will be retained, including brick walls, wood floors and tin ceilings.
"We're not going to be adding any superfluous decorative architecture — it's going to be pure to the building," Wilson said. "You don't be seeing any French carpeting or gilded cornices."
The exterior of the buildings will be largely unchanged, except for a new modern entrance on the Seventh Street side, he said.
The four-story buildings are at 700, 702, 704 and 706 W. Main St. and 112 S. Seventh St. The latter building houses Bunbury Theatre, which has said it will move.
Dating from the late 1800s, the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. That means their restoration will qualify for federal tax credits.
In addition, the city of Louisville is providing $1.7 million and the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority has approved the project for up to $3 million in state incentives.
21C will be designed by New York architect Deborah Berke, whose projects include three public buildings in the planned community of Seaside, Fla., and the new School of Art building at Yale University. Berke has taught at Yale since 1986.
Berke will collaborate with K. Norman Berry Associates, a Louisville architectural firm that has worked on projects to redevelop other historic Main Street properties over the years.
Works of art, in addition to being in the museum, will spill into the hotel's lobby and other public spaces. The museum will feature contemporary artists including Chuck Close, Andres Serrano, Bill Viola, David Hockney and others. It will only feature living artists.
The museum and hotel will be within a block of the Louisville Science Center, Louisville Slugger Museum, Kentucky Center, and Kentucky Museum of Arts + Design.
It's also within a few blocks of the planned Muhammad Ali Center, Glassworks, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and an arms museum that will open at Ninth and Main.
"We think (21C) is going to be a missing link (that) is needed," said Wilson, explaining that it might help attract people to Louisville for "an arts weekend."