Construction workers have spent the past several months gutting the former six-story hotel, which Historic Housing bought from the Better Housing Coalition in late November 2018, and tearing down the parking deck that was behind the hotel.

Work begins this month on turning the hotel into apartments, said David White, the other principal of Historic Housing. The renovation work should be completed in the spring of 2021.

Concrete panels for the parking deck should start being erected in May, with that part of the project completed later this year.

The developers plan to use steel and pre-cast concrete construction for the 12-story residential tower, which will enable the project to move along more quickly. The concrete panels should start going up in August with the tower being completed in late 2021, White said.

The project is unique in that the developers found a way to build 12 stories of steel and concrete “free of sound transmission and long-term depreciation” for slightly more than it would cost to build a four- or five-story building, Salomonsky said.

By saving the hotel and using pre-cast concrete for the residential tower, it will reduce construction time for the project from about 17 months to about 12 months, Salomonsky said.