I swear the Hyatt Place has barely opened its doors, and now another hotel is coming to South State Street. Decades-long SSS fixture Computer Medic closed its doors last summer:
Posted by Kevin Williams on Saturday, August 5, 2017
Finally, its building was fenced off for impending demolition, with Homewood Suites signs on the fences. I predict this will be Arbor Networks’ and some of the Wolverines’ new favorite hotel, as it is going up across State Street from the brand new Athletic Campus (specifically the Lacrosse Stadium).
Speaking of Hyatt Place, its outlot building continues to be available for lease and unfinished inside, waiting for a fast-casual or retail establishment to come in and put a stamp on it. The options are limited a little by a lack of drive-thru, which even coffee shops are getting now. But you know what it DOES have? A bike repair station and a doggie water fountain:
Finally, a little ways south of here, the Staybridge Suites is getting a similar outbuilding very close to the corner of State Street and Research Park Drive.
It looks like it’s at least two floors so maybe they’ll house multiple businesses. Black Rock Bar & Grill opens across the street this weekend, so it probably won’t be a steak place.
Black Rock opened earlier this month, kitty-corner from this building (you can see its lights through the windows of the partially-completed building in the photo above). They stripped the squat and unassuming Chi-Chi’s down to its bare walls, then re-envisioned it with high ceilings and huge windows for natural light. There are eye-catching fixtures on the outside that look like torches. People who have visited really like it, but personally when I eat out, I want a professional to cook my food (and a self-taught amateur retail analyst to do my blogging).