Midlands Business Journal • JANUARY 1, 2021 •
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Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel revived with Omaha history as centerpiece Continued from page 1. bringing this thing back to life.” Referencing old photos and anecdotes of family and Omaha residents’ visits to the historic Blackstone Hotel and its restaurants, the hotel design draws on elements from European bistros and art deco, blending modern amenities with original features, like the marble staircase and mosaic tile floor in the lobby that had been covered by carpeting.
Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel Phone: 402-810-9500 Address: 302 S. 36th St., Omaha 68131 Services: hotel accommodations, banquet spaces, food and beverage outlets Founded: 1916 Industry outlook: Residents and visitors alike flock to unique, local experiences as boutique hotels, restaurants help cities build identities. Website: thecottonwoodhotel.com
“The biggest job that we had was to make it a singular unique hotel that respects its history,” McLeay said. As Omaha natives with strong family, business and social roots in the city, the three owners were unwavering in their vision of the hotel as a unique destination. “The property did not deserve any generic decisions,” Lund said. “Just because it’s in a hotel somewhere else doesn’t mean it would have worked in this hotel … we didn’t necessarily have to pick every fork and chair and light — we wanted to.” The Orleans Room, known as the originator of the Reuben sandwich, has been updated and features French-inspired cuisine and design. The Petit Orleans is a grab-and-go style breakfast and lunch café — an added modern amenity. The Cottonwood Room, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a faux cottonwood tree as the centerpiece, features the original sign. The Committee Chophouse restaurant has an old-school yet updated intimate steakhouse vibe. The Schimmel Ballroom, the historic rooftop ballroom, was restored and named after the Schimmel family, who owned the hotel for 60 years. Over the years, the Schimmel Ballroom had been sectioned off and used as
The Cottonwood Room is an ode to the former speakeasy, roaring twenties-style cocktail bar, complete with a faux cottonwood tree and the original sign. office space. Repairs were made to the you look at the old pictures each room very barrel-vaulted ceiling and now it looks much had a theme … you kind of travel exactly like the historic photos, McLeay from one room to the next. The modern said, with the exception of all new heating interior design term for it is a ‘sense of disand cooling and mechanical systems and covery,’ so you’re always moving around and expecting to see something.” contemporary chandeliers. Even the hallway leading to the Gold “That was certainly a challenge to incorporate all the new mechanicals, all the Coast Ballroom and pool is Instagram-wornew elements, and we had to do all this thy, with people already posing for photo in accordance with the historic tax credit ops and posting on social media, they said. program,” he said. “We received approval from the State Historic Preservation office Photos by MBJ / Becky McCarville in Lincoln as well as the National Parks Service in Washington, D.C.” Over 50 original, local pieces of art What was previously a parking lot to curated by Omaha artist Watie White are the west of the main tower is now home to featured throughout the property. Local additional rooms, the Gold Coast Ballroom, businesses have partnered with the hotel, a fitness center and storage. A new Beverly among them Archetype Coffee, offering the Hills-style pool, and the Pool Club, are custom roasted Cottonwood Blend coffee; expected to bring in more guests during Coneflower Creamery that features butter the summer. brickle ice cream; and Scriptown Brewery “The other interesting part of the ho- with the exclusive Cottonwood Pilsner. tel that I think is super unique and was Local firms DLR Group and Leo A Daly historically accurate — every area is very were part of the $75 million renovation. distinctly different from the next,” Lund Kimpton is the hotel brand and Pivot said. “The old hotel was like that as well. If Hotels & Resorts, the operating division
Lounge chairs are lined up poolside, which is currently covered with scaffolding and artificial turf.
of hospitality management company Davidson Hotels & Resorts, manages the operations. Throughout the process, each owner took on various projects. Since the three had already worked together on several Blackstone District projects, they relied on each other’s strengths and had a high level of trust, McLeay said. “Tom was very heavily involved in the financing and structure and then Matt took on this really heavy role in construction management,” Lund said. “I tended to gravitate towards the creative decisions with the brand and the logos and art and music and some of these other areas. Then after that we kind of took on more physical sort of assignments. I was working on a lot of the lower level of the Cottonwood Room and the Committee Chophouse, Tom was heavily involved in pretty much all of the whole exterior — pool and deck and pool house. “At a certain point we had to divide and conquer. We didn’t have the bandwidth and it wasn’t efficient for all three of us to work on everything. It’s been fun — we each kind of have our own little pet project/ zones.” While the November ribbon cutting wasn’t the big celebration they would have hoped for because of the pandemic, seeing guests check in and patrons socializing at the lobby bar are important milestones. An operating business isn’t static, McLeay said, and there is always something to work on and make perfect. “I’m not sure I’ll really feel like it’s done until this hypothetical day when we’ve got multiple weddings here, the hotel is sold out, people are excited, COVID is over, the restaurant is booked — until that moment when it’s truly the hub of the Omaha world for at least a minute, that I think will be ... we did what I was hoping at least to do,” McLeay said. Lund agreed, adding that he wants every Omahan to visit. “It should be kind of one of those places and that people do start to refer to it in more of a possessive tense,” he said. “Where it’s, ‘I’m from Omaha and this is our hotel’ — friends are in town and they want to show off and it starts to take on that community ownership and pride.”
The barrel vaulted ceiling was restored in the Schimmel Ballroom.
