Indy Airport Opens Door For Potential ‘High-End’ Hotel
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis Airport Authority Executive Director Mario Rodriguez says "if there’s a time to build a hotel, this is it." The authority recently released a Request for Expression of Interest for developers of a potential "first class, full-service" hotel adjacent to the parking structure at the Indianapolis International Airport. Rodriguez tells Inside INdiana Business the airport is poised for such a big-ticket investment after tallying a record year for travelers and offering the highest number of nonstop flights in its history.
In an interview with Reporter Mary-Rachel Redman, Rodriguez says the property would accommodate a hotel well. He says it would be next to the existing parking garage. "Those moving walkways are set to connect directly to a hotel," he added, "in other words, you would come out of your hotel, get on the moving sidewalk, and end up in the terminal."
He says a confluence of construction, operations and jobs announcements recently and other planned for down the road — including a $1.5 billion investment by FedEx to grow it’s presence on the property, the airport’s first trans-Atlantic nonstop flight that will go between Paris and Indy starting at the end of next month and Thursday’s details that Infosys will boost its investment in the city and locate a U.S. Education Center campus where the old terminal once stood — will provide big benefits to the city, especially the west side.
REI criteria include:
- A nationally-branded or independent, "first-class, full-service" hotel that would connect to the terminal with a "modern, sophisticated and comfortable" design that includes "high end finishes" for corporate and leisure guests "who expect high quality accommodations"
- A hotel that would serve as a "gateway" to the city and offer meeting space with "the highest degree of technology available and superior furnishings, local food, and beverage offerings," which could include an upscale restaurant
- A hotel that would be environmentally responsible "utilizing as much sustainable design and technology as is financially feasible"
The authority is accepting responses to the Request for Expression of Interest through June 28.
Indianapolis Airport Authority Executive Director Mario Rodriguez says the property would accommodate a hotel well.