Sheldon S. Shafer

@sheldonshafer

Correction: This story originally listed the wrong number of rooms in each hotel. The Moxy will have 110 rooms and the Westin will have 205 rooms.

Developers have revealed the design of a $90 million development featuring two upscale, connected hotels intended to anchor the east end of Louisville's Whiskey Row.

The 110-room Moxy, a new Marriott brand that will cater to "urban backpackers" and millennials, and the 205-room Westin, a Starwood affiliate that will be marketed to the more sophisticated business travelers, will tower over the 100 block of West Main Street at First Street in the heart of the burgeoning new bourbon district.

The exterior of the other sides of the tower will feature liberal use of brick and extensive glass.

The project's design by HKS of Dallas, which also is designing the huge Omni complex in downtown Louisville, features a copper-like facade as a tribute to the copper stills where whiskey was distilled for many decades starting more than a century ago, said Steve Poe, CEO of Poe Companies. The copper-like metal is intended to reflect the cast-iron facades of the bourbon district.

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Poe is the lead investor in the Main Street partnership that also includes White Lodging, a hotel-management company based in northeastern Indiana, and REI, a Hoosier-based, real estate investment company. They have partnered with Poe on several other ventures.

The design of the Moxy-Westin development awaits the review of the Waterfront Development Corp. Waterfront agency spokesman Mike Kimmel said the initial reaction to the design from the waterfront officials has been positive. He said he anticipates a favorable response from the corporation directors.

Poe said the partners want to break ground around Aug. 1 and have the hotels open by Derby 2019.

The Westin, where overnight rooms will rent for $200-plus, will have its main entrance off Main, while the Moxy, with rates closer to $150 a night, will have its main access off Washington Street on the south side of the corner location, Poe said.

The Moxy will have a rooftop bar and a full restaurant, a second bar and a fitness center on the second level, facing Washington Street. Neither hotel will have a swimming pool. Each will have its own bank of elevators.

The more upscale Westin will have a full first-floor, fine-dining restaurant seating about 160 and companion bar along Main Street. A strategic element will be a 5,000-square-foot ballroom that "will be the nicest in the city," Poe said. It will be available for rent for social functions and meetings.

The hotel tower will be built behind the existing steel bracing that has been erected to shore up the two historic facades at the east end of the 100 block. A building on the target corner at First and Main collapsed years ago, after which the site behind the facades was cleared. The two facades have been held intact by the bracing.

The cleared lot behind the facades is currently used for parking. The facades withstood a fire two years ago that ravaged the center of the Whiskey Row block.

Poe said the restaurant along Main in the Westin will be built around the bracing and that new metal beams will be incorporated into the restaurant's design. Dining tables will be set up around the bracing. Poe said he now considers the bracing — and the fire — part of the Whiskey Row district's history.

Poe's partnership, called Louwexy LLC, closed several months ago on the hotel site, buying it for about $5 million from a group led by developer Todd Blue.

A Poe-led group several years ago opened an Aloft boutique hotel across Main Street from the dual-hotel site. The Aloft is doing well, which is a positive harbinger for the Moxy and Westin project and reflects the need for hundreds of new overnight rooms coming on line in connection with the ongoing $207 millionmakeover of the Kentucky International Convention Center.

The city is creating a special taxing district that will provide financial incentives for the dual-hotel project. The city deal caps the total rebates to the hotel developers at $6.3 million over 20 years.

Poe has signed an agreement with the Parking Authority of River City for hotel guests to use the nearby garage at the KFC Yum Center on nights when there are no arena events, and another nearby PARC garage at another corner at First and Main when the Yum garage is full.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at sshafer@courier-journal.com.

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