A massive hotel has been proposed for downtown Detroit next to Huntington Place convention center.
The 600-room, 25-story hotel would be built near the former site of Joe Louis Arena and connect to the convention center. It also would neighbor a new 25-story upscale apartments tower, which is set to open early next year.
The hotel’s developer would be Detroit-based The Sterling Group, which also developed the upscale apartments tower. Construction could start as soon as the second quarter of 2024.
The hotel plan was revealed in a notice for a future Community Benefits Ordinance meeting for the project on Jan. 9. The Sterling Group, which hasn’t officially announced the project, had no comment regarding its plans Thursday morning.
Detroit officials have for years bemoaned the city’s lack of a hotel attached to Huntington Place, formerly known as Cobo Hall. The situation is said to put Detroit at a disadvantage to other cities when pitching for large conventions and events.
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The proposed hotel would be near the riverfront and have 20 floors of guest rooms atop five “podium” floors containing a restaurant, a lobby bar, two ballrooms, a swimming pool and 50,000 square-feet of meeting rooms, according to the notice.
The hotel would connect to Huntington Place via a pedestrian bridge. It also would appear to connect to the new apartments tower, according to a project rendering.
The hotel’s name would be Hotel Water Square. The soon-to-open apartments tower next door is called The Residences at Water Square.
The Sterling Group, founded by metro Detroit businessman and banking executive Gary Torgow, acquired the old Joe Louis Arena site from a creditor in Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy.
The creditor, Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., was initially given a development deal to construct a large hotel on the site, but the hotel requirement was later dropped.
A Detroit ordinance mandates a weeks-long Community Benefits process for developments valued at $75 million or more that seek tax abatements. Details of the abatements the Sterling Group is seeking were not immediately available Thursday morning.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Proposed Detroit hotel connects to Huntington Place convention center
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