The $13 million Hotel Vandivort opened for business today, following a soft launch for invited guests.
General Manager J.P. Roberts said 10 of the boutique hotel’s 50 rooms are booked for opening day. He said the property would not be fully booked in the “very near future” but the hotel should be a yearlong respite for guests. Rooms, available for booking at HotelVandivort.com, range between $169 and $409 per night.
“It’ll be quite busy pretty consistently,” Roberts said.
Owners Billy and John McQueary – of the McQueary Drug Co. family – this weekend held a soft opening for invited guests. On Saturday, the hotel was filled to capacity, Roberts said.
The brothers bought the five-story property, 305 E. Walnut St., in September 2012 from downtown property owner Scott Tillman for $1.5 million. A year later, construction was underway by general contractor Larry Snyder & Co. The 109-year-old building once was a masonic temple, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
A news release issued July 1 by Insight PR - on behalf of Hotel Vandivort - erroneously indicated a July 8 opening date for the hotel, causing at least one news outlet, KSPR, to
report the wrong date. Insight PR later issued a correction.
The McQuearys utilized a City Council-approved, 25-year tax abatement on property improvements. The 44,000-square-foot hotel is managed by IDM Hospitality Management. Features include an in-house restaurant called The Order, as well as atrium suites on the basement level and a 1,500-square-foot master suite on the top floor, featuring an entertaining space with a kitchen, an indoor/outdoor fireplace and a 350-square-foot covered balcony, according to SBJ archives.[[In-content Ad]]
