The Grand Bohemian Hotel Charlotte is targeting a July 1 opening in uptown.
The $110 million, luxury boutique hotel initially expected to open in mid-April, but the spread of the novel coronavirus forced it to push back those plans.
“Obviously, we’re watching the trends and everything that’s happening. A lot can transpire over the next six weeks,”says Mark Kessler, president and chief operating officer of Kessler Collection Design & Development.
The Kessler Collection is developing that 254-room hotel, which will feature 16,000-plus square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. It sits on a 0.6-acre site next to the Carillon Tower at Trade and Church streets.
The Grand Bohemian flag is part of Marriott International Inc.’s Autograph Collection.
The uptown facility has been issued its temporary certificate of occupancy and is working on punch-list items at this point. A management team has been hired, with remaining positions to be filled about three weeks before opening.
“We basically just pressed pause,” Kessler says.
That decision came as travel slowed and the hotel group was forced to lay off the majority of its 1,200 employees across its nine properties in operation. The goal is to begin reopening those sites in mid-May.
In addition to Charlotte, it will open a hotel in Savannah this summer and has another property under construction in Greenville, South Carolina. Kessler
Collection worked with lenders on the Charlotte project to increase its loans for pre-opening costs and cover expenses in Charlotte.
“There certainly is a cost. We’re not going to open to the same business levels we anticipated,” he says. “Certainly this is not what anybody wanted at this point.”
People continue to book getaways — and regional markets that are within driving distance are poised to rebound quicker, Kessler says. The Grand Bohemian also has the benefit of being the newest product to open in the market.
“People will want to stay with us," he says.
That should help offset drops in business travel. It’s also booked for the Republican National Convention at the end of August.
Kessler says state and local guidelines surrounding Covid-19 will impact when the hotel’s restaurant and other facilities open.
That list includes restaurant, Mico, which will dish up South American flavors with a Mediterranean influence. There also will be a rooftop bar and lounge, called Buho, that focuses on hand-crafted, innovative cocktails, as well as a Starbucks coffee shop.
“Our goal is to open all, when we open,” he adds.