The opportunity to create the “Hotel Provençal” extends beyond just adding a wonderful hotel within the Grosse Pointe community. Hotel Provençal will act as a catalyst for a truly memorable and authentic focal point and public space for everyone to enjoy. This new addition within the Village will have a sense of place, it will be rich in tradition, and include elements of delight such as the ice skating rink and reflecting pool, an outdoor tree-lined plaza with year-round food kiosks, specialty retail shops with pushcarts filled with flowers and gelato stands, and a rich outdoor cafe all within a park-like setting. This space to be created is as important as the hotel itself in completing this block of pedestrian-scaled activities, year-round, day and night, seven days a week. Local businesses will be able to thrive even further and the Hotel Provençal will partner with other businesses within the Village for a holistic and synergistic approach to community and commerce. This project will be monumental for Grosse Pointe, and its success will be felt by everyone in the community.
As part of our vision for the development site, we took into careful consideration the emphasis the City of Grosse Pointe places on the rich history of the surrounding neighborhoods. We feel that as part of the success of this development, the project cannot be just a hotel. To drive demand for a hotel, there must be a draw to Grosse Pointe in the first place. In order to create something that will be sustainable through all economic cycles, we have diversified the site and create more of a mixed-use development than simply a stand-alone hotel. We have created a plan which allows each piece of the project to work individually, while still creating synergies. Through components of retail, apartment, condominium, and hotel, we will ensure that the entire project is a wild success for our community of Grosse Pointe.
The Site
The project includes two buildings – the Hotel Provençal and the Hotel Provençal Annex – and a new Linear Park. Use this map as a point of reference when exploring the remainder of the project.
Hotel Provençal
The four-story Hotel Provençal will feature 75 rooms, all designed elegantly and uniquely with a variety of layout and space plans and multiple options for banquet spaces ranging from 1,400 SF to 6,000 SF for weddings and other events. On the first floor, there will be an additional 4,000 SF of new retail including Vineyard Vines, Shinola, Roasting Plant, Intelligentsia, Commonwealth, and Sweet Green.
The Hotel is designed in a U-shape to create an open courtyard as a way to welcome not only hotel guests but all residents of Grosse Pointe. The courtyard will feature outdoor seating surrounding a reflecting pond to provide opportunities to enjoy coffee and free WiFi or socialize with family in friends – opportunities that currently do not exist in Grosse Pointe. The courtyard will host live music, food trucks, pushcarts, artists, and flower vendors in the summer months. During the winter, the reflecting pond will be used as a public ice skating rink.
Hotel Provençal Annex
Across the street from the hotel will be a newly constructed four-story parking deck with over 400 new parking spaces to be used by the City for this new development, as well as for existing traffic. In order to conceal the parking deck from the street and make the most use of sidewalk space, there will be two “bookends” with retail and apartments fronting both St. Clair and Notre Dame. These bookends will include 9,000 square feet of newly constructed white-box retail space. Here we have targeted more fast-casual restaurants as well as retail for the community. We have already engaged in discussions with the brokers representing Lululemon, Soul Cycle, J Crew, Walgreens, Chipotle, and a few other boutique eateries.
Above the first floor of retail space, will be roughly 30-40 newly constructed apartments with sizes ranging from 700 to 1,100 square feet. There is an extreme shortage in the Grosse Pointe communities for rental options for millennials at a price point of $1300 to $1800. Our development will create an environment that is attractive for a younger generation, who instead of moving away after college, can work in Downtown Detroit but still live in our community.
The Linear Parks
Our design embraces the character and charm of the City of Grosse Pointe and enhances the public realm through its urban design amenities and details. We are grateful to have the opportunity to create this unique hotel and “Linear Parks” for the public and surrounding businesses to use year-round. Our team would like to thank the City of Grosse Pointe for the opportunity to enhance the quality of life for a place close to our hearts.
