West Elm Out, Hotel Still In at Bottleworks District
One of the earliest pieces of the $300 million Bottleworks District project in downtown Indianapolis is changing. Hendricks Commercial Properties, which is developing Bottleworks at the former Coca-Cola bottling plant along Mass Ave, says the plans for a boutique hotel to be under the West Elm brand have been scrapped. However, Chief Executive Officer Rob Gerbitz says the development of the hotel is continuing as planned under the management of Hendricks subsidiary Geronimo Hospitality Group.
Geronimo owns and manages the Ironworks Hotel on the north side of Indianapolis, which Gerbitz says will create many new synergies for the project. He says Amy Isbell Williams, the current general manager of Ironworks, will become the GM at the Bottleworks hotel.
"With Geronimo taking over in managing and owning this hotel, they’re also going to take over and be the manager of the food hall," said Gerbitz. "So we’re looking to bring in synergies there between the food hall and certainly the hotel and the hotel guests from the simplest things. You can order food out of the food hall and have it delivered to your room just like you would at any hotel/restaurant so I think that is another real positive for us that kind of gets us to offer something that’s a very difference experience than you would see in any other city with a boutique hotel."
West Elm, a New York-based home products retailer, announced plans for Indianapolis in 2016 as one of five cities in which it would open a new hotel as part of a partnership with hospitality management firm DDK. Gerbitz says Hendricks Commercial Properties had a deal with DDK and the fallout came amid disagreements between DDK and West Elm.
Gerbitz says the construction of Bottleworks continues to be "full steam ahead" and they are looking to begin opening different portions of the project between the spring and late summer of 2020. Last month, Hendricks announced new vendors for the 30,000-square-foot food hall including local favorites Poke Guru and Lick Ice Cream.
Gerbitz appeared on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick last month to talk about the project, which you can watch by clicking here.
Gerbitz says utilizing Geronimo Hospitality Group will create many new synergies for the project.