InterContinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) Hotel Indigo brand has signed a deal for a 120-room new build property in Gainesville, Fla., bringing guests together with the city’s new Celebration Pointe neighborhood. Celebration Pointe is a unique mixed-use project with a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere, inspired architectural features and abundant green space, providing an energizing and engaging urban environment.
“Our guests want to experience something unique and different when they travel, so we like that Celebration Pointe won’t be the typical commercial development,” said Mary Winslow, director, Americas Brand Management, Hotel Indigo. “Every Hotel Indigo property is carefully designed to reflect the culture, character, and history of its surrounding neighborhood, and this area gives us a one-of-a-kind canvas with which to start.”
The Hotel Indigo Gainesville hotel, expected to open in 2016, will be strategically located within the mixed-use project between SW 49th Terrace and SW 50th Terrace facing a park-like setting. The hotel will have approximately 120 guestrooms, a fitness center and a business center and will feature plush bedding, hard-surface flooring with area rugs, and spa-inspired bathrooms. Guests and locals will enjoy a great neighborhood bar with seasonal and locally sourced food in a stylish environment, and relationships with local vendors like coffee roasters and breweries will bring a taste of the neighborhood into the hotel for guests.
The hotel will feature the brand’s new Neighborhood Guide, an innovative touchscreen display that connects guests to each other, the local neighborhood, and to Hotel Indigo locations around the world. Hotel team members, many of whom are locals themselves, will share their favorite hidden gems with guests looking to explore and discover the neighborhood.
Located at the intersection of Interstate 75 and Archer Road, Celebration Pointe is a 125-acre, 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development. In addition to more than 300,000 square feet of planned Class-A office space, Celebration Pointe will feature approximately 375,000 square feet of specialty retail and a significant restaurant and entertainment component as well as nearly 1,000 multifamily residential units when fully built out.
“The Hotel Indigo brand’s attention to detail, unique design philosophy and outstanding operating platform make it the perfect fit for our project,” said Celebration Pointe Partner Ralph Conti. “The fact that a brand such as Hotel Indigo selected Celebration Pointe for its first and only Gainesville location is indicative of the type and style of tenant mix that will make this project truly something special for both Gainesville and the surrounding region.”
Celebration Pointe, which will be anchored by an 80,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops, will also feature integrated recreational and sustainable resources throughout the project, including 100 acres of conservation land east of Lake Kanapaha with a networking of outdoor hike and bike trails that will connect Celebration Pointe to the surrounding Lake Kanapaha Conservation Area and Split Rock Conservation Area.
Pre-development site work for the $170 million Celebration Pointe project is already underway to prepare the site for certain infrastructure improvements. The first phase of the development is scheduled to open by fall of 2016.
The Hotel Indigo Gainesville hotel is owned by Celebration Pointe Hotel Partners LLC, will be managed by Driftwood Hospitality and will be franchised by an affiliate of IHG.
