The former Daniele Hotel in Clayton will reopen soon as a Hampton Inn and Suites.
The Daniele has been shuttered since 2007. But Equis Hospitality Management in St. Louis says it will spend about $16 million to renovate the hotel on North Meramec Ave. The new hotel will have 106 rooms, including 25 suites, and underground parking.
Equis co-owner Greg Mullenix says they will add a fifth floor to the hotel and they’ll feature a restaurant and bar at street level.
"I think what it will end up doing is revitalizing, activating the street, create some action there. I think it will help that entire market," Mullenix said.
Mullenix says the project was attractive because the hotel already exists. He says that since the economic downturn, there have not been a lot of opportunities to build new hotels from the ground up.
"Where there's an interest is in adaptive re-use and in this case was an old hotel but we could utilize the existing structure. It needs some repair but in reality you're working within the parameters of something that has already been approved," Mullenix said.
Mullenix says about 30 full-time employees will work in the hotel once it opens in February of 2014.
Equis is funding the project with help from RockBridge Capital LLC, a private equity firm based in Columbus, Ohio.
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