WSJ: Gilbert & Shinola teaming up for new boutique hotel in downtown detroit

[K-slice]

Great news for this block of Woodward! That area south of the Jazz party store has become a haven for loiterers who like to take up the whole sidewalk and make getting by them awkward. Hopefully this encourages some development in the smaller buildings as well. I always loved that extremely narrow Singer building there.

Also, does anyone know why the windows in 1400 were bricked over and what look like little golden treasure chests put on them? I thought maybe a pawn shop had been in this location at some point and made these changes.

[dtowncitylover]

Great news for this block of Woodward! That area south of the Jazz party store has become a haven for loiterers who like to take up the whole sidewalk and make getting by them awkward. Hopefully this encourages some development in the smaller buildings as well. I always loved that extremely narrow Singer building there.

Also, does anyone know why the windows in 1400 were bricked over and what look like little golden treasure chests put on them? I thought maybe a pawn shop had been in this location at some point and made these changes.

It was a Meyer jewelry store, their gimmick was the treasure chest. It's been bricked up since at least the 1960s.

Not much I can say about street people without sounding like an entitled little brat, so I'm just gonna deal with them. I still have no change or I will walk on by.

[Lowell]

All this makes me wonder what the thinking is in the Ilitch organization's secret star chamber over the Eddystone and the American aka Fort Wayne Hotels. I recall the plan for Eddystone is residential. I can't believe the American will be allowed to remain a blighted eyesore for long. It would seem ideal for hotel conversion.

[emu steve]

I would expect the 'build out' from around the arena to occur say in 2019 and 20.

We're seen speculation that the Eddystone would be worked on in 2018.

Then I think we'll see rehabs along Temple following completion of the Eddystone work.

[Atticus]

I'm surprised downtown Detroit is strong enough to support 4 boutique hotels. The big chains handle most corporate business and I assumed a lot of the boutique business would go to downtowns that have a lot of tourists and a lot of residential where people visit friends & family. Downtown Detroit still does not have the wide variety of smaller businesses that might also place people doing business with them in these types of hotels. However I guess the 4 hotels only add about 600 rooms.

The Aloft hotel in the Whitney, and the proposed Element Hotel in the Metropolitan are both part of Starwood hotels, which means they will definitely get their share of the corporate business travel. I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the Foundation, Wurlitzer, or Shinola hotels ends up pairing with a boutique brand in one of the major chains as well, to help with booking.

[DeLemur]

Glad to see DG doing his thing with more development and Shinola tieing into the city some more. Noho restaurants are highly recommended in NYC as well.

I'm a little worried about brand overreach. I bought my wife a Shinola the other day, they're beautiful timepieces and classy. They need to keep that classy fine line going and not blast the name on ever possible product but I think this can work. Just don't use the building as a gaudy billboard.

[TTime]

Very original joke.

What's the hotel equivalent of a Timex Weekender watch because I'd rather stay there? 1/15 the price and a better product.

[emu steve]

What's the hotel equivalent of a Timex Weekender watch because I'd rather stay there? 1/15 the price and a better product.

And "Where time flies when you are having fun..."

[archfan]

What's the hotel equivalent of a Timex Weekender watch because I'd rather stay there? 1/15 the price and a better product.

Yes, but it kept on ticking and that kept me up all night.

[MSUguy]

Some interesting data on the state of the hotel market. The article further goes on to say that downtown could use another large hotel like the proposed Crowne Plaza expansion to make more attractive to convention planners. It mentions beyond increased demand from conventions that one the demand drivers is simply more people living in area their visitors need a place to stay.

The Shinola Hotel project, announced last week, is the latest in a string of hotel projects planned or underway in downtown Detroit.

While increasing investment in the city is good news, it raises the question: Can Detroit support the number of hotel projects planned and under consideration for the central business district?

Experts say yes. There's demand for 800 to 1,000 more rooms downtown in the next two to three years.

With the increasing population, activity and corporate presence downtown, there is undoubtedly support for additional rooms, said Mike O'Callaghan, COO and executive vice president of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Detroit's downtown hotel occupancy and average daily rates are up this year, bucking the declines cities including Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have seen this year, O'Callaghan said.

Year to date through July, average daily occupancy for the 5,000 hotel rooms in Detroit's central business district was 67.6 percent, up from 66.3 percent for the same period of 2015, he said, referencing data from STR.

The average daily rate for the same period increased to $154, up from $148 for the first seven months last year and $141 for the period in 2014.

The occupancy number so far this year is about 1.5 percentage points better than the counties of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb, O'Callaghan said.

In the years before Detroit's comeback, suburban hotels would fill up first. But now, the Detroit hotels are, and the overflow is going to the suburbs

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...ny-is-too-many

[emu steve]

Based on a few recent articles outlining occupancy in Detroit, I sounds like the hotel business is strong downtown to support more hotels. And was mentioned, it's only going to add 500-600 new rooms.

The interesting thing about all the new hotel space downtown is whether or not that is going to help bring in more convention business to COBO. For years it was cited as a reason as to why Detroit wasn't in competition to grab more large conventions, aside from the deplorable conditions COBO was in only a few years ago. Now that COBO renovations are complete and new hotels coming online, I would hope that the convention planners are branching out to larger conventions to try to woo them to come here.

The added hotel rooms should also help with regard to grabbing some major sporting events, namely the Big Ten College Football Championship game, an NHL all star game, more NCAA Tourney games, possibly another Super Bowl [[long shot), etc. Even a major music festival that draws 50,000-100,000 people like Coachella could be something.

Anyone around here who has tried to book hotel rooms downtown during an event knows it's pretty hard to get a decent room. Even weekends during the summer can be hard to get a room. I used to think adding too many hotel rooms would spell doom, but it seems like we've gone past that point and can support more rooms.

I'm not a NHL fan, but what is the situation with NHL all-star game commitments for the future?

How far advance have cities been selected?

[K-slice]

Update! Looks like we wont have to worry about the future of the Jazz or it's clientele being a drag on the new hotel anymore. I am very happy they're keeping the Singer building due to it's tall and very narrow footprint.

It will also be interesting to see what kind of construction they are planning for the block facing Farmer.

http://detroit.curbed.com/2016/10/13...wntown-bedrock

[ABetterDetroit]

Update! Looks like we wont have to worry about the future of the Jazz or it's clientele being a drag on the new hotel anymore. I am very happy they're keeping the Singer building due to it's tall and very narrow footprint.

It will also be interesting to see what kind of construction they are planning for the block facing Farmer.

http://detroit.curbed.com/2016/10/13...wntown-bedrock

It will also be interesting to see how quickly demo and construction start. This one is appearing to be on a faster track.

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

Not directly related to the hotel, but I was in Detroit last week and purchased a Shinola watch.

[mikeg19]

I'd like to get one as well, but I fell like the price point is off. I have a few decent watches in my collection with a similar style, but about half the price of a Shinola. I wish they were in that $200-$400 range, not close to $1000

[dtowncitylover]

So the Singer Building in its entirety will be saved and the other two demolished and rebuilt as new building? Is that what I'm understanding it as?

[Gistok]

So the Singer Building in its entirety will be saved and the other two demolished and rebuilt as new building? Is that what I'm understanding it as?

Close.... 3 will be demolished... the 2 to the left of the Singer [[including that brown one), and the one to the right of it.

Looking forward to the Architectural drawings...

[dtowncitylover]

Close.... 3 will be demolished... the 2 to the left of the Singer [[including that brown one), and the one to the right of it.

Looking forward to the Architectural drawings...

Ah! Thanks for clarification! For some reason, I always thought the small building directly next to 1400 was rather endearing. Unlike Illitch's buildings, this one at least has a plan for new facades, so that's good.

[EGrant]

They've demo'd one of the buildings on Woodward. Saw the hole in the streetwall from Farmer. That parking lot behind Lofts at Woodward is also cleared.

[Rock N Rye]

Are they building on the gravel lot behind Queens Bar too, or just the parking lot behind Lofts at Woodward?

[EGrant]

Are they building on the gravel lot behind Queens Bar too, or just the parking lot behind Lofts at Woodward?

They have both of those sites fenced off as one big site. Not sure the final plans though.

[mikeg19]

It's interesting that in the renderings, the facade of the hotel looks exactly like the current facade of the buildings that are being knocked down. Is there a reason they decided to knock down the facade? I understand blowing out the rest of the buildings innards, but did they cite specifically why the facade facing Woodward needed to be taken down for an almost exact reproduction? I'd be interested to see why they proceeded that way.

[gumby]

Except that the new facades are completely different aside from the Singer Building which is being spared.

It's interesting that in the renderings, the facade of the hotel looks exactly like the current facade of the buildings that are being knocked down. Is there a reason they decided to knock down the facade? I understand blowing out the rest of the buildings innards, but did they cite specifically why the facade facing Woodward needed to be taken down for an almost exact reproduction? I'd be interested to see why they proceeded that way.

[Van Dyke Brown]

New renderings that I had not seen before today:

[dtowncitylover]

Drool! Can't wait for the Farmer St. fronts to bring some urbanity to that location.