Ho-hum :-) Another Downtown Boutique Hotel [Cambria Hotel] Announced

Another one! This will be across the street from the former Detroit News Building. Street View

"Downtown Detroit is getting yet another hotel, this time a 154-room Cambria Hotel at 600 W. Lafayette Blvd.

Choice Hotels International Inc. [[NYSE: CHH) signed an agreement with Troy-based Koucar Management to develop the new hotel, it said Thursday in a news release. The "upscale" hotel is expected to open next year in a redeveloped Walker-Roehrig Building.

The company cited the city's "bustling" downtown area and close proximity to Cobo Center and national corporate headquarters, including Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Quicken Loans for choosing the location."

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https://www.crainsdetroit.com/real-e...-hotel-detroit

The rendering looks like the new building will be at 3rd and Howard, behind the Walker Roehrig Building. That site was formerly going to be The Ashton.

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Originally Posted by NSortzi

The rendering looks like the new building will be at 3rd and Howard, behind the Walker Roehrig Building. That site was formerly going to be The Ashton.

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600 W. Lafayette is the Walker Roehrig Building
Attachment 37801

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Originally Posted by NSortzi

The rendering looks like the new building will be at 3rd and Howard, behind the Walker Roehrig Building. That site was formerly going to be The Ashton.

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You're right. The rendering is facing south on 3rd Ave. Maybe the entire complex will be part of the new hotel, new construct and the Walker Roehrig Building.

Perhaps the WR Building will be where the conference rooms will be and the new part where the rooms and check in will be?

It's NOT Gilbert\Bedrock, from what I see, which is good, we need diversity. It also shows that other people see the opportunity.

Isn't a "boutique" hotel generally under 100 rooms?

Cambria never struck me as a boutique brand, but i guess it's considered 'upscale' in the choice hotels branding. At least the design is much better than the prototype.

https://choicehotelsdevelopment.com/...els/prototype/

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Originally Posted by rb336

Isn't a "boutique" hotel generally under 100 rooms?

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I think years ago boutique hotels were usually independent properties, often converted from small 4 or 5 floor walk-up apt. buildings. Then the chains took over and started converting larger buildings and building from the ground up. Generally I'd say they are up to 200 rooms these days.

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Originally Posted by gumby

600 W. Lafayette is the Walker Roehrig Building
Attachment 37801

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I’m aware. If you look at the rendering you can see the 3rd Street facade of the Walker Roehrig Building to the right of the new build. I’m sure they’re going to incorporate the WR Building into the new build and keep the address.

Edit: Upon looking at the rendering more closely, this does show the hotel on the parking lot [[the site of The Ashton at 659 Howard) as opposed to 600 West Lafayette. I guess this means they are going to incorporated the current historic buildings at 600 West Lafayette into the development.

I'd always thought The Ashton was probably too short for this section of downtown, so this definitely seems to be wasting potential. The size just strikes me as something more appropriate for outside the downtown core, and I think that's really going to become apparently rather quickly as development spreads west of the Financial District in the coming years.

Like, this looks nice for the base of a mixed-use tower if it's something in the downtown core. But a single-use hotel in this area should probably be more substantial. This would fit nicely on some mostly-residential side street in Midtown or Corktown or something.

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Originally Posted by NSortzi

I’m aware. If you look at the rendering you can see the 3rd Street facade of the Walker Roehrig Building to the right of the new build. I’m sure they’re going to incorporate the WR Building into the new build and keep the address.

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I hope that's the case, as I wouldn't want to lose the WR building's late art deco facade.

Free Press article confirming the new Cambria Hotel building will be located on the former site of The Ashton. The hotel is actually going to be called The Ashton at The Cambria, according to the article.

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Originally Posted by NSortzi

Free Press article confirming the new Cambria Hotel building will be located on the former site of The Ashton. The hotel is actually going to be called The Ashton at The Cambria, according to the article.

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The Ashton proposal was really dated looking, seemed like something more out of the 1980s than 2020s. It looked like a fortress with zero interaction with the street and the architecture itself looked cheap and would not age well. Not surprised they didn't make the pre-leasing benchmark.

hopefully renovations will start as soon as possible, with job opportunities for construction and the permanent jobs after that. I wonder if some of the rooms at the top levels will be set up as deluxe suites that can be semi-apartments for those willing to pay the fees.

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Originally Posted by casscorridor

The Ashton proposal was really dated looking, seemed like something more out of the 1980s than 2020s. It looked like a fortress with zero interaction with the street and the architecture itself looked cheap and would not age well. Not surprised they didn't make the pre-leasing benchmark.

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It was probably the weakest design proposed in the city. this midrise is a little better.

I would also add about this project is that will hopefully lead to more investment in the western part of downtown that could lead to a development like the Ashton happening.

Do you think these boutique hotels get announced if the Crown Plaza 2nd tower goes through? Personally I'd rather have 5-6 100 room hotels than 1 500 room hotel, especially when we're talking about quality infill rather than another tower on the Crown Plaza concrete podium.

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Originally Posted by JonWylie

Do you think these boutique hotels get announced if the Crown Plaza 2nd tower goes through? Personally I'd rather have 5-6 100 room hotels than 1 500 room hotel, especially when we're talking about quality infill rather than another tower on the Crown Plaza concrete podium.

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Take a look at the Crain's article today [[I can't access it to post). It discusses the need for a 500 room hotel for convention business but the prohibitive cost per sq. foot compared to smaller properties.

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Originally Posted by dtowncitylover

I would also add about this project is that will hopefully lead to more investment in the western part of downtown that could lead to a development like the Ashton happening.

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Infill is nice, but a lot of the big conferences want to be able to fit everything within one hotel; rooms, convention space, breakout rooms, on-site catering, etc. Not many hotels are capable of that right now, especially for the bigger conferences.

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Originally Posted by EGrant

Infill is nice, but a lot of the big conferences want to be able to fit everything within one hotel; rooms, convention space, breakout rooms, on-site catering, etc. Not many hotels are capable of that right now, especially for the bigger conferences.

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the JLA site really needs to be a large hotel specifically for this purpose

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Originally Posted by JonWylie

the JLA site really needs to be a large hotel specifically for this purpose

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I prefer that location for a few condo or apartment buildings.

It's just disconnected from downtown. If that were a large hotel...visitors would stay there, walk to Cobo, and never see actual downtown. Just think we'd miss a lot of the benefits of what a large hotel could bring downtown if it was in that spot.

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Originally Posted by stinkytofu

I prefer that location for a few condo or apartment buildings.

It's just disconnected from downtown. If that were a large hotel...visitors would stay there, walk to Cobo, and never see actual downtown. Just think we'd miss a lot of the benefits of what a large hotel could bring downtown if it was in that spot.

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Honestly that whole area needs to be reconfigured, along with a removal or capping of the Lodge south of 75, but I digress

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Originally Posted by stinkytofu

I prefer that location for a few condo or apartment buildings.

It's just disconnected from downtown. If that were a large hotel...visitors would stay there, walk to Cobo, and never see actual downtown. Just think we'd miss a lot of the benefits of what a large hotel could bring downtown if it was in that spot.

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What about having a hotel in the Joe Louis location with the 1st several floors parking. You could have a ground floor lounge area with access to the riverfront, the lobby on the 1st level above parking and a glass walkway similar to Millender/RenCen that would allow people to walk across the Cobo roof and take elevators/escalators directly into Cobo's main entrance or onto the street out front. The views would be better from the rooms both of the riverfront and toward downtown.

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Originally Posted by JonWylie

Honestly that whole area needs to be reconfigured, along with a removal or capping of the Lodge south of 75, but I digress

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Yeah this is extremely important to rectifying stinkytofu's concerns. If a better layout and large hotel were built there, the rest of downtown could accessible by the People Mover; it would have its own stop. Some sort of plaza over the Lodge between Jefferson and Congress to make Congress accessible to the hotel.

The PM stop at the JLA is not being demolished, BTW, and will be incorporated into whatever is built there [[almost assuredly something mixed-use). And I believe the city is already brainstorming what to do with the road infrastructure around there to de-clutter it.