The City of Carmel is working to develop a luxury boutique hotel next to the Carmel City Center. But in the meantime, a new boutique hotel called Ironworks opened Sept. 12 at 86th Street and Keystone Avenue in nearby Indianapolis.
ABOUT IRONWORKS HOTEL
Ironworks is Indianapolis’ first and only northside boutique hotel. The five-story brick industrial building was inspired by 19th century architecture and features 120 guest rooms with an average room rate of $250 and above.
The building includes an upscale restaurant called Provision, which is from Cunningham Restaurant Group. There’s also a breakfast place called Rize, an Asian restaurant called Blue Sushi Sake Grill and a spa provider called Massage Heights. The hotel is across Ironworks at Keystone, which features rental units and ground floor retail such as Orangetheory Fitness, breakfast stop Yolk, burger restaurant B-Spot and the new northside Indianapolis location for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
Isaac Bamgbose, vice president of asset management for Hendricks Commercial Properties which is behind Ironworks, said the goal is to create a unique experience that isn’t available at big hotel chains.
“Some of these nice big hotels are great, but you are still talking about 200-plus rooms,” he said. “We really want to provide a unique experience to our guests. I think we have a lot of travelers who are looking for a unique experience that you’re not going to get anywhere else.”
Bamgbose said the 100,000-square-foot hotel will offer plenty of amenities for guests, including a fitness center, conference rooms, luxury bedding, shuttle service and pet-friendly rooms. Some rooms offer a spa-like bathroom, 75-inch TVs or 60-inch double-sided flatscreen TVs, and walk-out verandas with fire pits and outdoor music.
A grand opening party will be held from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Oct. 21. The event will feature music from local live band The Bishops, which recently played at the Carmel International Arts Festival and is scheduled to perform at The Palladium’s New Years Eve party. Food from various restaurants and a beer garden will be avaiable. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and will also be sold on site the day of the event.
COMPETITION WITH CARMEL?
Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said he’s been in lots of meetings to begin planning Carmel’s luxury hotel, which was recently approved by the Carmel City Council.
“My goal is to have it open by March of 2019,” Brainard said. “Whether we meet it or not, that’s my goal.”
Brainard said he think there’s room for both the Ironworks hotel and Carmel’s luxury hotel.
“I think it’s a nice hotel,” he said. “I think the style (of Irownworks) will be dated in a few years. Our style will be like The Palladium with a classic design that will never go out of date.”
Brainard said one key difference is that Carmel’s hotel will be right next to The Palladium, the Monon Greenway and the Carmel City Center, so it will be very walkable.
“Our hotel will be in the middle of our downtown and is more walkable than the traditional suburban corridor hotel,” he said. “It will help attract companies here. We anticipate a lot of visitors will come by taxi or Uber or Lyft and might just walk to local restaurants the entire time.”
Bamgbose said Ironworks might be more unique than Carmel’s hotel, which will possibly be an Autograph Collection by Marriott. He said that’s a great brand, but the only other Ironworks hotel is in Beloit, Wis.
