We all know how successful the Big Four Bridge has been already in terms of drawing crowds, but in Jeffersonville, development on the ground is is still just getting started around the foot of the bridge in Big Four Station park.
We recently covered a plan to bring row houses to a two-acre sliver of Colston Park along Mulberry Street and referenced a hotel project to the north on the site of the former Rose Hill Elementary School. Now that hotel project—approved by the city last September—appears to be moving forward.
Elizabeth Beilman at the News & Tribune reported last week that the developer, ARC (formerly API), is finalizing an agreement with Marriott Hotels to bring a $15 million, 93-room Towneplace Suites to the site. She said demolition of the old school should take place within a month of the final agreement.
The hotel structure will stand three stories tall and is designed with a facade meant to evoke a series of row buildings built over time rather than one large new structure built all at once.
“If you can envision a lot of the older buildings in downtown Jeffersonville along Spring Street that really fit the community,” ARC President and CEO Alan Muncy told WAVE3 last year, “imagine taking all of those facades and pushing them together.”
In addition to the 17,800-square-foot hotel, plans call for 1,200 square feet of retail space along the sidewalk. Also planned is a 93-spot parking lot.
According to Beilman’s earlier report from last September, ARC purchased the 30,000-square-foot school property in 2013 and proposed renovating the structure into a mix of residences and retail called the Loft at Big Four Station. That plan was scrapped, but called for 18 residences and 5,000 square feet of commercial space.
The new hotel is being custom designed and Beilman reported that developers plan “to incorporate the names of the cities that inspired the Big Four Bridge — Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis — into the hotel’s design.” The structure was originally proposed at four stories, but was cut down to three after neighbors objected to the height.
The Towneplace Suites is expected to open by April 2017.
[Editor’s Note: We added a site plan of the hotel to this article.]
Uh oh….
With such a small retail spot proposed, a small upscale boutique that sold locally made items would be wonderful in this area. Showcasing local artists, artisans, crafters. Items not sold in a ton of other places everywhere.