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A local hospitality company plans to spend $15 million to convert an office building along Interstate 465 into a hotel featuring a Bar Louie restaurant and a small conference center.
Indianapolis-based Ghoman Group will overhaul the Intech Two building at 6650 Telecom Drive on the city’s northwest side. The four-story structure, set to become a 140-room Hyatt Place, was acquired by Ghoman through holding company Intech Partners LLC last September for $1.5 million along with its 9.4-acre site.
Intech Two was built in 2001 as part of the larger Intech Park, situated in the technology and research corridor along I-465 on the northwest side.
Company co-CEO Alex Ghoman told IBJ he believes the multi-use project—which will reside entirely within the existing 154,000-square-foot building—will work well for the area, particularly given the building’s recent history. Ghoman purchased the vacant building several months after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security left the property in favor of a space in downtown Indianapolis.
“Obviously [the mixed-use proposal] was a little bit shocking for the [Pike Township] residents to hear, because they have seen this building over the years just as an office structure,” Ghoman said. “But I think they also realize it’s been abandoned the last six to eight months and there’s hardly anybody there.”
The building exterior is not expected to be altered in the conversion—with the exception of added signage—but the entire interior will be gutted, Ghoman said.
As part of the project, Ghoman Group and its in-house hospitality management firm Blue Ridge Hotel Partners will also develop a Bar Louie restaurant, which would be the third in the pipeline for Ghoman Group in central Indiana. The company is also incorporating a Bar Louie restaurant into its Fairfield Inn project in Lebanon, as well as in conjunction with the planned partial conversion of the downtown Capital Center office complex into a Moxy hotel.
Ghoman said the restaurant is likely to be a draw for area office workers, as well as those staying at other hotels near Intech Park. He also expects the property to employ at least 100 people, with no fewer than 75 of them working inside the hotel itself through a mix of part-time and full-time positions. The hotel conference center would be able to accommodate groups of up to 250 people, he said.
The firm anticipates work on the conversion to begin by this summer, with a 12-month construction timeline.
However, because the company is seeking to rezone the property to a commercial designation that allows for hospitality and restaurant uses, the plans must still jump through several hurdles including approval from the Metropolitan Development Commission and City-County Council.
The request will go before the Metropolitan Development Commission hearing examiner on Thursday.
Indianapolis-based Prince Alexander Architects is the design firm on the project.