Boutique Design - July/August 2017 - 42

HAMPTON INN & SUITES, NEWPORT, KENTUCK Y

AC HOTEL CINCINNATI AT THE BANKS

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY:

LIKE A LOT OF SECONDARY CITIES around the

U.S., Cincinnati has gone from fly-over country
status to being a big blip on the hotel development
radar. Additions to the city's core in recent years
include a 21c Museum Hotel in a converted apartment building, a dual-branded Hampton Inn &
Suites/Homewood Suites in a former newspaper
tower and a new-build Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites.
And slated to debut there soon is the AC Hotel
Cincinnati at The Banks (above right). The city's
suburban hotel stable has also seen some growth-
including the recently opened 120-room Hyatt Place
Cincinnati/Sharonville Convention Center-as have
its just-across-the-Ohio River counterparts in
Northern Kentucky, such as Newport (whose new
Hampton Inn & Suites is shown above left) and
Covington (that city's Hotel Covington was featured
in the April 2017 edition of Boutique Design).
So, why are these once-overlookable destinations
so hot, and what could dampen the enthusiasm for
non-gateway urban assets? Boutique Design brought
together leading voices from the area's hospitality
ownership/operations, design, architecture and
manufacturing sectors to share their insights on the
opportunities and challenges presented by Cincinnati and other mid-sized markets, along with several
related-and timely-topics.
42

boutiquedesign.com JULY + AUGUST 2017

The event was held at the downtown Cincinnati
headquarters of CR architecture + design, and was
moderated by Boutique Design executive editor
Mary Scoviak. Here are some takeaways from that
no-holds-barred discussion:
FIRST-CLASS OPPORTUNITIES: People and
businesses are relocating to smaller markets. The
cost of living, especially housing, is more affordable,
as is commercial real estate. Also appealing are the
slower-paced lifestyle and ease of access to cultural/
civic resources. While the prime opportunities for
adaptive reuse and conversions have been snapped
up already, in many markets developers willing to get
creative in terms of finding/concepting challenging
buildings will still have a chance to make their
mark. And, with lower real estate costs, there are
also options for new-builds that can make the
numbers work.
The biggest wins are still likely to be first-in-line
lifestyle hotels. Daniel Fay, chairman and founder of
Commonwealth Hotels LLC, pointed out that was a
principal driver behind the ART, a hotel in downtown Denver that his firm manages. Fay said the key
is custom-tailoring the concept to the character and
tastes of the specific market. In his view, even a
strong performer such as the ART won't be scalable.
CR director Kelly Gaddes said it's important for

design firms to engage local branding companies to
help them utilize authentic references that drill
down well beneath the typical tourist touchpoints.
In a similar vein, Architects Plus partner Matt
Erdman noted that the design of hotels is
"becoming micro-local, telling the story of the
specific block they're on."
For all their potential, the participants agreed
there are drawbacks to working in such markets,
most notably a shallow labor pool. "A city the size of
Cincinnati may have three good plumbers who
specialize in hotel development, and they're always
booked," said Bimal Patel, president of Rolling Hills
Hospitality. In addition, FRCH Design Worldwide
senior vice president and principal Jim Stapleton
noted that as secondary cities get a denser hotel
base, developers may no longer be able to rely as
readily on tax credits and other assistance from
local governments to make a proposed project
financially viable.
NO HARD STOP TO THE CURRENT GROWTH:

The previously mentioned tighter labor market is a
concern in virtually all markets, the participants
said. Other worries include the growing presence of
so-called living-wage requirements, rising interest
rates and a supply/demand imbalance in some
cities. Despite all that, the consensus was that the

G R U P E N H O F P H O T O G R A P H Y, C O U R T E S Y O F C R A R C H I T E C T U R E + D E S I G N ( H A M P T O N I N N ) ;
S H E R I G L A Z I E R - B E S S L E R , W I N E G A R D N E R & H A M M O N S H O T E L G R O U P ( AC H O T E L R E N D E R I N G )

CINCINNATI EDITION

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