Lodging developer and operator Ceres Enterprises LLC has agreed to pursue constructing a $15 million hotel as part of Carnegie Management & Development Corp.'s proposed One Lakewood Place mixed-use project in Lakewood.

The 90- to 100-unit inn could rise as high as six stories and use the two-story Curtis Block building, 14501 Detroit Ave., as part of its lobby, chef-oriented restaurant, fitness and business centers. The 100-year-old building was retained intact under the agreement that Carnegie forged with the city of Lakewood to redevelop the former site of Lakewood Hospital at the edge of the suburb's downtown. Once owned by the former city hospital, the ornate brick structure is the biggest remainder of the old facility.

Rustom Khouri, president and CEO of Carnegie, said in a phone interview that he was excited about the addition of the hotel component and potential companies that may occupy the office portion of the mixed-use residential, retail and commercial project.

Khouri said he is in talks with a major out-ot-town insurance company that is considering moving its national headquarters to about 88,000 square feet of the project. However, he would not identify the company because the company is negotiating incentives with the city and the deal hasn't been signed yet.

"Lakewood wanted this project to be transformational," Khouri said. "As things are coming together, it looks like that's what we're going to give them."

Bryce Sylvester, Lakewood planning and development director, confirmed that such a headquarters prospect is in play, but declined to identify the company because details are not set. He was similarly excited about the pieces of the project that Carnegie is close to pulling together, including the hotel.

"The hotel is certainly an aspirational part of the project," Sylvester said in a phone interview. "If you were putting a hotel in Lakewood, this is the logical place to do it. We feel it fits the development program for the site. This location could also support the office environment throughout Lakewood because so many companies want nearby locations for out-of-town visitors."

David Crisafi, president of the Crisafi family-owned Ceres, confirmed that the company has signed a letter of intent to develop a hotel at the Lakewood project with Carnegie.

Older suburbs such as Lakewood that developed in the streetcar era have missed out on new lodging projects over the years because they did not have empty land next to highways when they were put in after World War II.

"People don't necessarily stay by the edge of the highway anymore," Crisafi noted. "We're in a different era. Being in the middle of a city is where people want to stay now. Even if they are visiting for a few days on business, they want to stay at locations that allow them to immerse themselves in the surrounding community. The synergies that Carnegie is developing at One Lakewood Place support that."

The other part of the equation Crisafi didn't mention is the resurgence of the inner-ring suburb over the last few years is palpable, with restaurants and popular nightspots and highly sought single-family housing near downtown Cleveland.

Crisafi said Ceres is interested in the Lakewood site as one of several boutique hotels the company is looking to pursue. That would allow the company to participate in the profusion of new hotel flags associated with major hotel brands.

Ceres most recently has developed two out-of-town Cambria-branded hotels itself and two in joint ventures with The Orlean Co. of Beachwood, which includes the Cambria in Avon. In the 1980s and 1990s, the company developed what were growing brands at that time, including Hilton Garden Inns and a portfolio of Residence Inn properties in the region.

Carnegie and Ceres are both based in Westlake, so they are familiar with one another. Moreover, the Brown, Gibbons Lang & Co.'s Cleveland office introduced the two as Khouri sought a lodging partner for the hotel company, Crisafi said.

Khouri said he hopes to start building on the old hospital site within the year if the company and city settle on incentives for One Lakewood and the city obtains Ohio Environmental Protection Agency approval to build on part of the site polluted decades ago by the old hospital's laundry.

Other components of One Lakewood include a seven-story apartment building in a 200-unit residential component and retail space.

The structures would rise around a 900-car parking garage in the center of the site, which will allow the design to create an urban fabric that fits Lakewood's streetscape, said George Papandreas, an executive vice president at Carnegie.