CWD - Hotel rendering - 020314.jpg

The new five-story hotel is being designed by the same architect who designed the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

(Courtesy rendering)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – CWD Real Estate Investment — one of downtown’s largest property owners – announced plans Monday, Feb. 3, to build a five-story hotel on a parking lot it owns at the corner of Monroe Avenue and Louis Street NW.

The yet-to-be-branded hotel will be designed by Kulapat Yantrasast, the same architect who designed the award-winning Grand Rapids Art Museum located across the street from the building site.

The modern glass building will be connected to the "50 Monroe" office building also owned by CWD. It will include ground-floor retail and restaurant space and may include condominiums on the upper floors, said Sam Cummings, CWD's co-managing partner.

Cummings said the new hotel will have between 100 and 150 rooms and fill the price gap that exists between downtown’s higher- and lower-priced hotels.

The hotel is likely to include extended-stay rooms, in which guests stay five nights or more in a room that includes a kitchen area. The project will not include onsite parking, relying instead on existing parking facilities in the downtown neighborhood, Cummings said.

“This site, which is literally in the center of our city, has been a parking lot for at least 30 years,” said Cummings.

“We are thrilled with the prospect of adding an iconic structure to this important location and we hope to submit plans to the city of Grand Rapids Planning Department by late spring for construction to begin later this year.”

CWD is in discussions with Amway Hotel Corp. about managing the hotel. Amway Hotel Corp. currently operates three downtown hotels — Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, JW Marriott and Courtyard by Marriott. A hotel brand will be announced at a later date.

For its architect, CWD chose Yantrasast, who is better known as the architect of the Grand Rapids Art Museum — the first new art museum in the world to receive a LEED Gold certification for environmental design.

“Because it’s in the center of the city, it demands an iconic building,” said Cummings, adding that they are confident the downtown market can bear another hotel property.

“Place-making is more than just the current buzz word; it’s a real movement with real momentum here,” said CWD co-managing partner Scott Wierda. “This mixed-use development will further solidify that the core of our city is the place to work, live and be entertained.”

A recent survey of the Kent County hotel market indicated the overall annual occupancy rate for roughly 7,300 rooms was 63.4 percent last year, an increase of 4.6 percent. The national average for 2013 was 62.3 percent and the Michigan average 57.5 percent, according to numbers from Smith Travel Research.

This will be the first hotel project for CWD and comes on the heels of three renovation projects for significant downtown historic buildings: the Ledyard Building, 125 Ottawa Ave. NW; the Trust Building, 40 Pearl Ave. NW; and 50 Louis Ave. NW, which includes CWD’s new headquarters.

The group also said they plan to re-skin the 50 Monroe building, possibly restoring the facades of the three 100-year-old buildings beneath its current facade. Although the rendering for the new hotel shows a different façade on the 50 Monroe building, Cumming would not say if that reflects plans for restoration.

RELATED: Downtown's 'Fifty Monroe' building could get a new look, new uses, says its new owner

CWD, which acquired the property at 50 Monroe Ave. NW in March 2012, also controls the PNC Bank Building, 269 Monroe Ave. NW; The Gallery apartment complex at 10 Commerce Ave. SW; the Brass Works Building, 648 Monroe Ave. NW; and 300 Ottawa Avenue NW.

The partnership was formed in 2008 by Cummings, Wierda and Dan DeVos, chairman of DP Fox Ventures. CWD also has been active as developers in Holland, Zeeland, Grandville, Muskegon and Greenville.

The CWD project may not be the only downtown hotel under construction this year. Suburban Inns has a project on the drawing board to build a 283-room Embassy Suites Hotel several blocks north at 720 Monroe Ave. NW.

The 11-story hotel will feature a Michigan-shaped indoor pool, an indoor/outdoor hot tub, 5,000-plus square feet of conference space, covered parking and a free shuttle service around downtown.

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.