Shinola Is Readying Its Next Hotel for Indianapolis

Can lessons learned from making timepieces also apply to the world of hospitality? Shinola’s first foray into the world of hotels opened in Detroit in 2019 and offered one answer to that very question. And evidently, the experience of creating a hospitality destination in one Midwestern city worked out well for all involved, as Shinola is getting back into the hotel business — this time with a new space in Indianapolis.

Writing in Hotels, Kathakali Nandi reports that the site that was previously home to the CSX building will soon where travelers can find Shinola’s second hotel location. That’s not the only new addition to the site; part of the redevelopment effort will also involve the creation of a Live Nation-operated music venue.

As Alyssa Guffy at the Indianapolis Star reports, the letter of intent for the property specifies a hotel 13 stories in height and 170 rooms. The music venue will, Guffy writes, hold a total of 4,000 attendees. The venue will share an architect — Populus — with the Las Vegas Sphere. As Hotels notes in their article on the project, Ratio Architects will handle the design of the hotel side of things.

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Phil Bayt, an attorney representing developers Boxcar Development, told the Indianapolis Star that Shinola’s blend of businesses was of particular interest. “It will be a unique blend of bringing the interest in a consumer product into a hotel,” Bayt said.

The development isn’t guaranteed to happen. The next phase of things involves a hearing with the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, scheduled for early August.