Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Community News French Quarter Inn May Become Comfort Suites
Posted by Bianca Phillips on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 7:13 PM
Preliminary plans for converting Overton Square's abandoned French Quarter Inn into a Comfort Suites were unveiled at a public meeting at Memphis Heritage's Howard Hall on Wednesday evening.
The property is under contract to be purchased by two local businessmen, Rishi Chopra and Jay Kumar. Chopra owns several local Subway restaurants, a liquor store, and a Baskin Robbins. Kumar owns Metro and Advantage Cab companies, and his family has a long history in the local hotel business. A representative from Choice Hotels, the company that owns the Comfort Suites brand, also attended the meeting.
Chopra and Kumar plan to spend around $6 million to purchase and renovate the property. Chopra said the building would be almost entirely gutted inside. The outside of the building will also undergo a full renovation, but the brick wall around the current property will either remain in place or be replaced with a similar wall. The new owners did say they would try to manipulate the outside of the building to match the character of the neighborhood and the future Overton Square development.
"There is absolutely some work to be done. There's been some involuntary copper reclaiming," joked Evan Nahmias, an attorney for Chopra and Kumar.
Some Midtown residents at the meeting expressed concern over a corporate hotel brand moving into the space rather than a smaller, upscale boutique hotel. But Chopra said the economy and their budget simply wouldn't support such a hotel in that location.
The representative from Choice Hotels described the Comfort Suites brand as "upper mid-scale" and said rooms would be priced around $100 per night. There likely will not be a restaurant inside the hotel, but it will offer free breakfast and possibly a small bar for evening drinks.
Artist Robin Salant asked the new owners if they'd be incorporating local art into the interior design.
"We definitely intend to work with Comfort Suites to include local art," Chopra said.
Chopra and Kumar are only in the preliminary stages of planning, and the deal with Choice Hotels is not yet set in stone.
"Now is a great time for us to get involved with this project because of the city's investment and Loeb's investment," Nahmias said.
Comments (4)
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The Sleep Inn, downtown, is a Choice hotel, and for all the tooth gnashing that greeted its announcement for being too downmarket, nobody seems to be complaining about it now.
I think we need to be realistic about what the market will bear. Remember, there's already a vacant hotel property in Midtown. Would we like a Hyatt or Marriott in Overton Square? Of course, but that isn't any more likely to happen than a Trader Joe's was when the possibility of a grocery store was in the offing.
The community certainly needs to be heard about this proposal, but if it comes to fruition (a big if), then it needs to be done in strict compliance with the Midtown Overlay, and other design standards, to avoid another CVS debacle. Having that property be scrupulously developed, I believe, is better than having it be vacant.
With all the scrutiny this property is getting, coupled with Bobby Loeb's interest in seeing that whatever goes in there doesn't diminsh the value of his investment, I'm sure we can get something that will complement the rejuvenation of that neighborhood.
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Unfortunately there are no legal design standards that they will have to abide by. The overlay only goes into effect when you are building new or tearing down 50% of the building or expanding. They are only renovating an existing building that is part of an existing planned development with little if no standards. City Council would have to demand that they meet a higher standard.
We should be glad that somebody (Memphian) is ready to take chance to build a motel up to a standard where it is better for city of Memphis not only Overton Sequre. These young buyers should have the opertunity to be succesfull in doing so, since young people are the future of America. I am glad some body has come forward to do so. I personally do not want one company come and spend money and be monoplize the whole area. I think we should get together and help these guys to go forward. I wish them good luck!
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