$23 million boutique hotel planned across from TQL Stadium

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Developers are planning a boutique hotel across from FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium in Over-the-Rhine.

Moment Development, in a joint venture with Downtown Property Management Inc., plans to build a 90-room boutique hotel at the corner of Central Parkway and Magnolia Street. Ohm Patel, founder of Moment Development, said he started talking with Downtown Property Management about two years ago. Downtown Property Management, which owns the buildings at 1416, 1420 and 1424 Central Parkway, was getting offers from different developers at the time, but wanted to do something themselves.Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Patel, who is opening the Pitch at 1430 Central Parkway with Keyur Joshi and Kidus Tadele, started talking with Downtown Property Management about partnering and presented a hotel as a joint-venture opportunity.

“With the stadium going up and that portion of Central Parkway invigorating itself, this is a great opportunity to provide a hotel for OTR,” Patel told me.

The planned boutique, full-service hotel would be a three-story building with a cocktail lounge, restaurant, top-floor event space and hopefully a rooftop space with views of TQL Stadium. The expected total investment for the project would be about $23 million.

The 90-room hotel would use the existing historical contributing building at 1420 Central Parkway but demolish the non-contributing buildings to the north and south and replace them with the rest of the hotel. While the hotel will be unique, Patel said it is likely it will have a soft affiliation with a brand, providing the backing of a global reservation system, but those details are still to be determined.

“It’s a nod to the historic district, and at the same time provides a really cool destination for people visiting OTR,” Patel told me. “What this property will do is provide that OTR experience in your hotel stay.”

Prior to founding Moment Development, Patel was with the Witness Group, a Columbus-based hotel investment, construction and management company. Downtown Property Management also owns the building the Pitch is opening in.

Moment Development and Downtown Property Management are working with Luminaut as the architect for the planned hotel. HGC Construction is building the Pitch for Patel and his partners. Patel said HGC Construction would be “key players” in making the hotel happen.

Patel said they are trying to create a brand that speaks to the historic nature of the buildings, as well as paying respects to the founders of Downtown Property Management.

“The architecture is a true testament to us really having that understanding and paying respect to the historic district, while at the same time providing a big economic impact into the OTR market,” Patel said.

Matt Erdman, CEO of Luminaut, said the developers been in communication with the Over-the-Rhine Community Council, getting feedback and making adjustments to their plans. The hotel is designed to be about 80,000 square feet, with the restaurant, lobby and lounge on the first floor. The plan is to have a fourth story set back from the street used for event space, with a small rooftop space accessible from there.

“People are looking for authentic experiences in Over-the-Rhine,” Erdman said. “This is a great location, getting a property in that historic district so people can have that experience when they stay.”

Patel is planning to take the project to Cincinnati’s Historic Conservation Board in June for approval. The properties do not require a zone change for a hotel. He expects the entitlement process will take about a year to get everything approved. He is looking at starting construction in mid-summer 2022, with an opening in early 2024.

Patel said in addition to providing a place for Over-the-Rhine residents’ friends and family to stay, it could also serve the FC Cincinnati crowd, possibly hosting away teams.

“This is the only hotel that will look like this, feel like this, be like this,” Patel said. “It will provide that Instagrammable moment.”