Butler University to renovate former dorm into boutique hotel, the first on campus

The oldest residence hall at Butler University will be transformed into a boutique hotel after developers stepped in to protect the building from demolition.

The hotel, part of the Curio Collection by Hilton , will be the first hotel on Butler's campus, housing 105 luxury rooms, a signature restaurant and meeting spaces in the 70-year-old former dormitory. University President James Danko said the hotel design will play into the existing structure of Ross Hall, including the building's facade and interior details such as ceiling beams.

Set to open by the 2026-2027 academic year, the hotel will help address the lack of accommodations close to campus and provide a new experience of visiting the university, Danko said. Many visitors during commencement and move-in weekends wind up staying miles away from campus, Danko said.

"There's no hotel that's really close to us," Danko said. "So this is going to be a really nice hotel that also happens to be on Butler's campus."

The signature restaurant will offer fine dining, Danko said; designers want to create a space that can double as a coffee shop in the morning and luxury restaurant in the evening.

Developers hope to break ground in the spring. Before construction can begin, the city must approve the rezoning of the land.

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Ross Hall, once home to Butler first-year students, closed as a residence hall in 2019, when the university built a series of new residence halls and opted not to renovate the aging building. The building was briefly resurrected as a living space during the pandemic, serving as an isolation building for students.

From demolition to a new hotel

In the summer of 2023, Butler leaders sent out a message to alumni, saying that Ross Hall was set for demolition. Passionate Ross Hall alumni quickly reacted, lamenting on the impending loss of what many students called their first home on campus.

Hotel development firm Purpose Lodging also took notice and approached Butler to tour Ross Hall and envision what the building could become. The company identifies unused historic buildings to repurpose into boutique hotels.

"I think they were seeing beyond what we saw, which was an old classic dorm that wasn't air conditioned," Danko said. "The more and more we talked with the group, the more that they were enamored with the idea of going to Hilton for their Curio Collection, which is focused on unique properties usually in some type of a community."

Three months later, the firm helped the university make a connection with Hilton, Danko said.

Purpose Lodging, headquartered in Alabama, will serve as the developer and operator of the hotel, the first Curio Collection hotel in Indiana and the first on a college campus.

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Butler will lease Ross Hall and the surrounding area to Purpose Lodging under the agreement. Gettys Group, a Chicago-based hospitality firm, will design the project. A deal with a construction firm has not been finalized.

The total price of the hotel project is unclear, but Danko estimated the renovations alone will cost $45 to $50 million dollars. Butler, Hilton and Purpose Lodging will pay for the development through money from investors, Danko said.

Ross Hall renovations are part of Butler's larger Gateway Project, a plan to connect the campus to the Indianapolis community, particularly the Midtown area and Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, Danko said.

Earlier this month, Butler received a $22.5 million Lilly endowme n t grant for the project , which includes money earmarked for a safety and transit hub in the surrounding area. However, no endowment funds will be used for the cost of the hotel, Danko said, which will come from private investment.

Alysa Guffey covers growth and development for Indy Star. Contact her at amguffey@gannett.com or on X: @AlysaGuffeyNews .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Butler University to renovate former dorm into boutique hotel, the first on campus