The City of Owensboro and Gulfstream Commercial Services held a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for the third downtown hotel, which they unveiled to be Home2 Suites, a division of Hilton.
Officials said the new hotel will give Owensboro enough rooms near the convention center to attract bigger and better conventions.
The number of floors for the Brio project, which will house not only Home2 Suites, but also 200 units in the Riverfront Brio Apartment Homes, is still undetermined, according to Gulfstream representatives.
The project is expected to cost in excess of $40 million. While a timeline is not yet set, demolition work will begin immediately, with Mayor Tom Watson taking down the first bricks of the existing building sitting on the new hotel site during Wednesday’s ceremony.
“The Brio project will begin to fill the void of quality and achievable residential living in our downtown,” said Ed Ray, chief operating officer of Gulfstream Commercial Services. “We hope this is just the beginning of developers building residential living in our downtown.”
Ray revealed the renderings for the new high-rise project, which he said will forever change the skyline of Owensboro.
According to Ray, Home 2 Suites is one of the fastest growing brands in Hilton’s history and will be operated by Chicago-based company Superhost. There are currently more than 300 Home2 Suites, including one in nearby Evansville, Ind., with 400 more in the pipeline, according to information provided by Gulfstream.
