This story as originally published on November 20th on the old website.
Prior to the Great Recession, Equis Hospitality had plans to develop a second hotel and parking garage next door to the University Club Tower in Richmond Heights and East of the Galleria. After several design revisions, concepts and other things related to development, this project is now moving forward. Originally meant to be a Westin Hotel, this modestly sized building will form a decent sized street wall along Clayton from 170 to Brentwood Boulevard. The current plans call for a 10 Floor hotel, designed by S+P architects of Clayton, parking garage and retail space at the base of the hotel.
The hotel, whose brand has yet to be named, was approved by the city of Richmond Heights today according to Doug Miner’s 40 South News. The branding is supposed to be an “upper upscale” hotel according to Greg Mullenix. Equis will be entering into negotiations next week with two hotel brands to decide which flag this property will fly under. Most likely, the hotel brands will be Marriott and Hilton as those two have been developed by Equis. Before being cancelled in the wake of the 2008 recession, this development (and the neighboring Homewood Suites) was to be known as “the Fountains”. No word on whether that name will be brought back for this phase of the development or if something new will be the name.
While the project has been a long time coming, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to many as Equis has been working hard on trying to get something built on this prominent grass lot known as "Lot A". Equis is also planning to enhance and renovate the existing Homewood Suites. The total cost of the development will top out at $60 Million. Of that money, Mullenix says that a large piece financing is in place and that construction will begin in February 2019. Construction should wrap up in late 2020. Below is an older rendering showing the hotel design pre-recession.
This story will be updated with additional renderings and information when they become available.
Click the link to read Doug Miner's story on 40 South News: http://40southnews.com/upper-upscale-hotel-in-richmond-heights-financing-comes-through/