Yankee Trader Building may become Boutique Hotel

By: Walker

40 Comments

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  ChrisD28 January 13, 2008 2:10 am

  Quote from article:

  “A limited-service hotel would likely do well, and it would certainly be cheaper to build,” said Paul Astleford, president and chief executive of Experience Columbus, the city’s convention and visitors bureau. “But would it open up new markets for us? No. Meeting planners are very clear about the type of hotel we need to attract new business, and it has to be a full-service hotel.”

  ———————–

  Maybe somebody with a bit more knowledge on the subject could help fill me in here. But, I guess I don’t understand why having a boutique hotel and a large full-service hotel in the same neighborhood is really that big of a deal. I mean, I would think that these two very different types of hotels would be serving very different people with very different needs/wants. i.e. I don’t think that a large full-service hotel would be losing business from convention goers/organizers and vice versa.

  As a similar example that relates more to me, I don’t think that I would mind if a Finish Line or Footlocker opened up in the same block as Sole Classics because, for the most part, I wouldn’t see our customer as being the same person with the same needs/wants as a Finish Line customer. Our customer wants something unique and quirky like the boutique hotel guest. While a Finish Line customer is most likely looking for either a deal, something basic, of a sport-specific sneaker.

  But maybe I just don’t understand things like this?? Is there something I’m overlooking here?
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  ilovethiscity January 13, 2008 12:02 pm

  Praise the Lord. That building and location is simply too beautiful to let it remain as it is. Gloss it over and make it look amazing
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  joev January 13, 2008 12:18 pm

  I think Columbus is truly lacking in unique places to stay. The Lofts is about it for anything larger than a guesthouse/B&B. And that’s out of a lot of people’s price range. So this will be great. And good for leisure tourism. I think the Arena District/Convention Center area needs some balance away from convention-focused stuff. The right mix of affordabiity, amenities and uniqueness could be a huge boon for leisure tourism.
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  ilovethiscity January 13, 2008 2:44 pm

  With the amount of press the Short North is receiving, it’s a must! Will a restaurant or lounge make way into the lobby, or, gasp, the ROOF TOP
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  Outerloop January 13, 2008 2:54 pm

  Is it impossible to think that we could have both types of hotel???
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  Walker January 13, 2008 3:22 pm

  Outerloop wrote Is it impossible to think that we could have both types of hotel???

  Agreed. Why not do both. With the growth around the Short North & Arena District I think we could stand to have a few more different types of hotels in that area.
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  Columbusite January 13, 2008 4:21 pm

  It seems hotels have historically added a lot to this city, especially downtown when you consider all of the hotels around the square that were replaced with 9-5 office towers. I glad we’re getting more. Can’t wait to see how the one on Gay will add to the area.
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  Tigertree January 13, 2008 5:10 pm

  Don’t we have enough “convention style” hotels in the neighborhood? Thank God somebody wants to do something different. Our city is way behind on this trend.
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  Walker January 13, 2008 5:55 pm

  Tigertree wrote Don’t we have enough “convention style” hotels in the neighborhood?

  Nope. That’s the main reason we’re not hosting one of the largest political events of the year this year.
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  whopper jr January 13, 2008 10:03 pm

  The Yankee Trader building would be prime for a boutique hotel. It really has potential. When I travel, I seek them out because typically with a good boutique hotel you get an interesting surrounding neighborhood. They also usually have quirky amenities like free happy hour.
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  cmhcow January 14, 2008 9:29 am

  do both, but not here. read between the lines. a hotel on the yankee trader site means the demolition of three more historic buildings in columbus. super. the trader should move its upper floor storage to another location, convert the upper floors to housing and spruce up its facade.

  you know, a few years ago there was a proposal in front of the VVC to build a boutique hotel on the surface parking lot just north of mac’s (don’t worry, it included an equal number of public parking spaces to offset the lot of the lot). how does that sit with people? renovate the yankee trader and eliminate one more surface parking lot!
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  Walker January 14, 2008 9:32 am

  cmhcow wrote a hotel on the yankee trader site means the demolition of three more historic buildings in columbus.

  Really? Which ones? I didn’t get that at all from the article.
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  Tigertree January 14, 2008 9:33 am

  Walker wrote
  

  Tigertree wrote Don’t we have enough “convention style” hotels in the neighborhood?

  Nope. That’s the main reason we’re not hosting one of the largest political events of the year this year.

  Do you have any statistics on how often the Hyatt, Drury Inn, Red Roof and Hampton are filled to capacity? I am not knocking those hotels or the convention business. It brings a lot of people through my doors, but I think a cool boutique hotel is something our city needs. I don’t think the same about another hotel like those mentioned. [/i]
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  Drew January 14, 2008 9:38 am

  I feel as though there is something less than ideal about a boutique hotel directly facing the convention center… not that it’d be an awful thing (a boutique hotel anywhere is a big good thing) but just seems like they’d be hedging their bets on the hotel and city being a draw in and of itself and looking for overflow from convention goers. Which only matters insofar as it might compromise the execution of the hotel in the direction of catering to the needs of convention goers.
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  joev January 14, 2008 9:39 am

  I think Columbus’ convention strategy is about right. Going for the biggest ones means buildig lots of new hotel rooms, which likely would sit empty much of the year. Attracting the medium-sized conventions adds lots of money to the economy without losing the character of our neighborhoods to over-sprawling convention centers and necessarily generic convention hotels. We shouldn’t try to get the Republican National Convention, even though it would put us in the spotlight.
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  greenhouse1014 January 14, 2008 9:48 am

  I’m trying to think of the name of the hotel in NYC, but it’s very artsy and has murals from local artists painted on the walls in the guest rooms. Wouldn’t that be a great fit for a hotel in the Indie Art Capital of the World? A boutique hotel decorated by Columbus artists? I’m a lame organizer but if anyone likes this and picks up on the idea, I want to do a room.
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  cmhcow January 14, 2008 9:52 am

  Hi Walker,

  I was referring to the three buildings that the Yankee Trader currently occupies. It was this part of the article, “The report says an eight-story, 155-room hotel could have a strong 76 percent occupancy rate and fetch $186 per night by 2013.” An eight story 155 room hotel would require the demolition of 457-463 North High Street.

  By the way, $186 per night five years from now for a boutique hotel seems pretty inexpensive. In fact, it seems more craft store than boutique. Ha! Seriously, I justed checked the Hampton Inn web site and you could book a room there for $164 tomorrow, so how “boutique” are we really talking? If what we get is another limited service hotel with slightly better lobby art, then we are being cheated.
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  rave_til_dawn January 14, 2008 9:57 am

  Walker wrote
  

  Tigertree wrote Don’t we have enough “convention style” hotels in the neighborhood?

  Nope. That’s the main reason we’re not hosting one of the largest political events of the year this year.

  My sister-in-law lives in St. Paul, where the RNC is being held, and there aren’t even enough hotel rooms there to handle it. So not sure what chance Columbus had anyway. She’s renting out her downtown condo for that week through Craigslist, and going to make a killing on it.
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  Drew January 14, 2008 10:01 am

  cmhcow wrote If what we get is another limited service hotel with slightly better lobby art, then we are being cheated.

  That’d be my concern as well.
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  Walker January 14, 2008 10:11 am

  Tigertree wrote Do you have any statistics on how often the Hyatt, Drury Inn, Red Roof and Hampton are filled to capacity? I am not knocking those hotels or the convention business. It brings a lot of people through my doors, but I think a cool boutique hotel is something our city needs. I don’t think the same about another hotel like those mentioned. [/i]

  Nope, I have no hotel stats on me. Could probably get that info from Experience Columbus though. I’m not advocating a convention hotel instead of a boutique. I’d like to see both happen. I was simply answering your question by saying NO, we don’t have enough convention hotels to pull in some of the larger conventions that want to come here.

  joev wrote I think Columbus’ convention strategy is about right. Going for the biggest ones means buildig lots of new hotel rooms, which likely would sit empty much of the year.

  Do you have any stats on the occupancy rates of the existing convention hotels? Because judging from these two articles, the strategy right now is to add another giant high-end convention hotel to accommodate growth in convention traffic.

  cmhcow wrote I was referring to the three buildings that the Yankee Trader currently occupies. It was this part of the article, “The report says an eight-story, 155-room hotel could have a strong 76 percent occupancy rate and fetch $186 per night by 2013.” An eight story 155 room hotel would require the demolition of 457-463 North High Street.

  Oh, I guess I didn’t realize it was housed in three buildings. If that’s the case then I’d also like to see them salvaged no matter what the plan turns out to be.

  rave_til_dawn wrote My sister-in-law lives in St. Paul, where the RNC is being held, and there aren’t even enough hotel rooms there to handle it. So not sure what chance Columbus had anyway.

  Columbus and Ohio have played a very important role in the presidential elections the past few years. I’d say we had a very strong chance if we were able to accommodate the crowds a bit better.

  Oh well… what’s a couple million dollars dumped into the local economy over the span of a few days anyway, right? :?