Art Chosen for Hotel Set to Complement the Nearby Museum

By Rich Polikoff

Posted: November 5, 2011 at noon

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BENTONVILLE — Ground has been broken for a luxury hotel in downtown Bentonville that will cater to visitors to the city’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Construction for the 21c Museum Hotel began in mid-September.

It is just north of the downtown Square on A Street, within walking distance of the museum.

A spokesman for the developer says the hotel will open in 2012.

“We think the 21c hotel will run really strong,” Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce Ed Clifford said recently. “What it does is send a strong message that we’ve really made a concerted effort to improve the downtown area.”

In each of the past two years, the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, Ky., has been the voted No. 1 hotel in the United States in the Conde Nast Traveler reader’s poll.

A second 21c Museum Hotel is under construction in Cincinnati; Bentonville’s would be the third.

Steve Wilson of Louisville, who founded 21c Museum hotels with his wife, Laura Lee Brown, announced the $28 million Bentonville hotel project in June 2010. Wilson said at the time that his company was drawn to the Northwest Arkansas city because of the presence of Crystal Bridges, and the unique opportunity to complement the museum’s artwork.

The hotel will have around 12,000 square feet of art, said company Vice Chairman Craig Greenberg of Louisville.

The art will be curated from the corporate offices by the hotel’s chief curator, in collaboration with founders Wilson and Brown. There will be both permanent and rotating exhibits and a dedicated museum employee at the hotel.

The 21c in Bentonville will have a bar and restaurant, with a focus on locally grown food and cuisine that reflects the region, Greenberg said.

The Bentonville location is expected to have 103 rooms and will be the first 21c that is new construction.

The hotel is among a number of developments occurring in Bentonville as a result of Crystal Bridges. In late May, a restaurant opened on the Square, Tusk & Trotter American Brasserie, and other eateries are expected.

MOVING ON UP

At its heart, the 21c (21st century) Museum Hotel is a project driven by contemporary art, Greenberg said.

The 90-room Louisville hotel has just over 9,000 square feet dedicated to art. It comprised the rehabilitation of five historic buildings, and the 153-room Cincinnati project is also a historic renovation.

“We’re very excited about doing a new construction project,” Greenberg said of the Bentonville hotel. “We have a wonderful design from Deborah Burke, our design architect, and think it will add to the character of Bentonville’s town Square and add a lot of energy to the streets.”

Polk Stanley Wilcox of Fayetteville is the executive architect of the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville, and Flintco Construction of Springdale is the builder. Flintco has built a number of projects that are well known in the region, including the Bentonville ice rink and splash park, Fowler House and Mullins Library of the University of Arkansas of Fayetteville, and Cherokee Casino and Hotel in West Siloam Springs, Okla.

The 21c Museum Hotel has been a major boon to Louisville, according to Jim Wood, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Louisville and Convention Bureau. Wood said that when the hotel earned the top ratings in the Conde Nast Traveler reader’s poll, would-be tourists took notice.

As a result, Wood said, the area surrounding the 21c hotel in Louisville has flourished in recent years.

“Having the No. 1 hotel in America is just huge, because it provides that high-level boutique hotel we’ve never had in this community,” Wood said. “Especially for people traveling from [cities like] New York, Philadelphia and Miami, they never expected a hotel like this in Louisville, so it’s heightened awareness of Louisville, Kentucky.”

The annual poll is the consensus opinion of 25,000 readers of Conde Nast Traveler according to the magazine’s director of communications, Sarina Sanandaji. Conde Nast Traveler is a high-end U.S. magazine that focuses on worldwide travel; its annual poll rates the best hotels throughout the world.

The 21c Museum was rated the No. 6 hotel in the world in 2010 by the publication’s survey.

“The 21c Museum Hotel scores really high across the board,” Sanandaji said. “It’s been the No. 1 two years in a row, but before that [the No. 1 hotel in America] was the Peninsula Chicago. Typically it’s been [hotels] in bigger cities.”

The ratings were based on ratings in five categories: Rooms, service, food, location and design. In the most-recent poll, Louisville’s 21c Museum Hotel earned an overall score of 97.7 out of a possible 100; its top categories were rooms and design, which both scored 98.7.

“It’s not about plush carpet and gilded mirrors anymore,” Greenberg said. “It’s about a really unique and comfortable experience, which is what we seek to provide.”

This article was previously published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on July 24, 2011.

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