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A spate of boutique hotel operators are planning to open outlets in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
A 150-room Aloft hotel – part of the Starwood group, is already under construction as part of Cleveland’s Flats East Bank project, and a new Kimpton hotel and restaurant housed in the historic Schofield Building at the corner of East 9th Sreet and Euclid Avenue is expected to open in late 2013.
In the same neighbourhood as the Kimpton project, work has begun to consolidate five separate adjacent properties into what is expected to be a new Le Meridien Hotel.
According to Downtown Cleveland Alliance president Joe Marinucci, the city’s new casino, medical mart, convention centre and other downtown development are creating a new market for hoteliers.
“We’re getting these boutique hotels that are recognizing that there’s a market niche that’s not being fully served here in Cleveland. These boutique investments are allowing us to incrementally increase the size of the market, without necessarily hurting the occupancy of some of the other hotels.”
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