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Louisville's Historic Downtown Seelbach Hotel Plans an 11-Story Tower, and a Big Redo

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Louisville's Historic Downtown Seelbach Hotel Plans an 11-Story Tower, and a Big Redo Louisville's historic downtown Seelbach Hotel plans an 11-story tower, and a big redo. Ben Tobin and Grace Schneider | Courier Journal Published 10:31 a.m. |Feb. 19, 2020 | Updated 10:04 a.m. ET Feb. 20, 2020. One of Louisville's most iconic, grand old hotels is in line for a major expansion. The Seelbach Hotel, at Fourth Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, filed an application with the city Tuesday to build an 11- story tower on the north side of the existing Seelbach annex wing and above an existing two-story ballroom addition. In a statement released Wednesday night, Rockbridge, the Columbus, Ohio-based investment firm that bought the hotel two years ago, said the upgrade also will include a "comprehensive renovation" of all existing guest rooms and public spaces. “This will be a transformational project for both the city of Louisville and the state of Kentucky,” Jim Merkel, Rockbridge's chief executive, said in the release. “By re-establishing the iconic nature of this historic hotel, we will shine national attention on Louisville and Kentucky.” The 150-foot tower will include guestrooms between the second and ninth floors, a meeting space at the 10th floor and a rooftop bar, which will have both an indoor and an outdoor space, according to the application. All told, the addition will include a little more than 30,000 square feet, expanding a facility with 308 rooms over 300,000-square- foot, 308-room hotel. The renovation will start after plans are finalized and capitalization is completed. The company provided no cost projections or planned numbers of rooms. More things to do: Take a sneak peek at Louie's Hot Chicken and Barbecue opening downtown Louisville has recently undergone a massive hotel boom, with more than 2,400 rooms added in the last three years. And more, including an eight-story Hyatt-branded hotel for Second and Market streets, are in the works. There's plenty of space in the marketplace for additional capacity to accommodate convention goers and other travelers, according to Rebecca Matheny, executive director of the Louisville Downtown Partnership, an agency that promotes the city's downtown and coordinates economic development activities. The Seelbach is one of the city's anchor historic hotels, and "we're incredibly thrilled to see this investment," Matheny said. "The asset that this property is is so important." To stay competitive, some of the city's biggest downtown properties, including the Galt House and the Louisville Marriott, have announced renovations of more than $100 million combined. Related: Capone, F. Scott Fitzgerald and a ghost: Inside The Seelbach's glitzy Roaring '20s history CBRE Hotels Americas Research reported nearly a year ago that Louisville led the nation with a quarterly increase of 11.4% in demand for hotel rooms. That number was higher than many other cities because of pent-up demand for rooms while the Kentucky International Convention Center was shut down for renovations and the period leading up to the opening of 612-room Omni in 2018. Rockbridge, which specializes in real estate, announced in December 2017 that it had acquired the Seelbach and had enlisted Musselman Hotels in Louisville as the property's management team. The reported purchase price by RB Seelbach LLC was $38.6 million. In Wednesday's statement, Chester Musselman, president and CEO of Musselman Hotels said his company has "a track record of executing comprehensive projects like the Seelbach, and when done, we will deliver a hotel commensurate with the legacy and history of the storied Seelbach.” Over the years, the Seelbach has had many notable guests — including famed mobster Al Capone and "Great Gatsby" author F. Scott Fitzgerald. At the hotel to tell their stories is resident historian and concierge Larry Johnson, who was named hotel historian of the year by Historic Hotels of America this past year. The Seelbach also is an architectural gem. The creators, brothers Otto and Louis Seelbach, lavished touches on the turn-of-the- century Beaux Arts Baroque hotel with imported marbles from around the world, bronzes from France, hardwoods from the West Indies and Europe, linens from Ireland plus Persian and Turkish rugs, according to the hotel's website. The Rathskeller bar in the basement features Bavarian-style arched columns decorated with Rookwood Pottery tiles from Cincinnati. .
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