Monticello-based hotel development group Vibrant Hospitality LLC has plans to erect a 100-room hotel at 219 E. Sixth St., on a parking lot at the corner of East Sixth and Cumberland streets in downtown Little Rock.
A source said Tuesday that the hotel will be a Vib brand of Best Western Hotels & Resorts. Vib hotels are built in a contemporary, sleek style and are predominantly placed in urban markets with the technologically savvy guest in mind.
Feroz Patel is the registered agent for Vibrant Hospitality with offices in a Hampton Inn he owns in Monticello. Efforts to contact Patel on Tuesday were not successful.
The project requires approval from the city's Board of Adjustment because the developer, Development Consultants Inc. of Little Rock, is asking for some variances to the city's development provisions. Staff recommends approval of the hotel, with some adjustments to landscaping and signs. The board meets Monday.
Property for the new Vib, about 1.7 acres, sold last year for $699,000 with Eric Nelson and Michael Mitcham of Moses Tucker Real Estate Inc. brokering the deal.
New hotels have been popping up all over downtown, a sign that investors remain interested in downtown hotel development, said Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive Jay Chesshir.
"It certainly shows that the private sector sees a vibrancy in the convention and tourism industry in the core of our metro Little Rock region, or wouldn't be investing millions of dollars in creating additional space that private companies believe are needed," Chesshir said.
"I believe there will be more activity beyond this," Chesshir added.
A Hilton Garden Inn planned for two half-acre downtown lots was to open early this year, though construction has yet to start. The property at Rock and Fourth streets, where the Rock Street Shops are located, and half the parking lot at Cumberland and Fourth streets were bought by Shawn Govind, director of real estate for Pinnacle Hotel Group.
That development group is planning a 135-room, seven-story Hilton Garden Inn, which was to be the fifth new hotel built downtown since 2004.
Before Pinnacle, the McKibbon Hotel Group Inc. of Gainesville, Ga., began developing hotels downtown. The company's fourth hotel in the area, a 115-room Hilton Homewood Suites on land formerly occupied by the Arkla Gas Co. building, opened in June. Others are the Marriott Courtyard on President Clinton Avenue, and the Hampton Inn and Suites and the Residence Inn by Marriott, both on River Market Avenue.
Business on 01/20/2016