The City's first Motel, the Bel Air West Motel (1957) at 4630 Lindell, has seen it's fair share of re-brandings over the last 12 years. The first took place in the 1980s when the Bel Air West became a Best Western. The second came in 2007 when the Roberts Brothers acquired the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) property and renovated it into a Hotel Indigo, which was completed in 2009. That was a $10 Million project. Just a few years later, in 2011, the hotel became a Comfort Inn. In 2014, the hotel rebranded as a Holiday Inn Express after a $3 Million renovation. Now, in 2019, the hotel will revert back to Hotel Indigo after a $5 Million renovation. This time, Kansas City based Abbott Properties is leading the charge with Lodging One Hospitality serving as the operator.
This renovation has been known since last November, when Abbot Properties unveiled their Collaborative Place project. A sentence at the end of a KMOV story mentioned the project but didn't give specifics as to what the project would bring. Now we know what it will bring.
The project will see the complete renovation of the building, including new Air Conditioning units, new flooring, and new windows being installed. All of the windows will also take on a different look, there will be some stained glass in the mix as well as different sized glass panels to add some color and variation to the white and brown brick façade. Other changes include a new Porte Cochere at the main entrance and landscaping. In general, the property will look far nicer than it's current state and will add three rooms to it's current 127 hotel rooms in the booming Central West End area.
This Hotel Indigo joins the Downtown location to expand the boutique hotel brand from Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) in the St. Louis area. Each Hotel Indigo is meant to be a reflection of the city and neighborhood that it is in, so specific design elements will honor the Central West End. Another unique feature of the hotel is the fact it retains the Mid Century character of the building.
The project joins a flurry of other hotel projects in the general Central West End area. Just a few blocks away, Koplar Properties has set a late Summer groundbreaking for the 192 room AC by Marriott Hotel on York Avenue. In Cortex, Midas Hospitality is currently developing an Aloft Hotel on Duncan Avenue. In Midtown, Midas is also developing the region's first Element by Westin Hotel. Besides those 3 new hotels, the Hotel Indigo will be in good company with names such as the Chase Park Plaza Hotel and Parkway Hotel.
Construction on the Holiday Inn to Hotel Indigo has started and will be completed some time in 2020. The hotel will not close during the duration of construction. A construction cost was not given.