Former Citizens Telephone office to become hotel

Jun. 13—Downtown Mankato is slated to get 28 more hotel rooms with a redevelopment of the former Mankato Citizens Telephone Co. office.

Hospitality Ventures is seeking a conditional-use permit for the hotel and an associated bar/lounge area at 215 East Hickory St.

The building is between the Masonic Lodge building and the Consolidated Communications office.

Josh Williams, president and CEO of WEB Construction, is working with the group of investors on the project.

"We're seeking approval for 28 rooms (with) a restaurant-bar in the lower level," Williams said. "It'd be more of an extended-stay hotel with kitchenettes in the rooms."

He said it will be called the Hotel Alexander, as in Alexander Graham Bell, in homage to the building's former life as a phone company.

"We hope to bring in decor and things related to old phones," Williams said.

Besides remodeling the building, the developers are leasing space next to and behind the building for 40 parking stalls.

Behind the building was the site of the former Mankato City Hall, which was razed years ago.

The project will utilize the existing finishes on the building, which include brick, limestone and granite. Portions of the brick will be painted. Fiber cement panels, called Nichiha accent panels, will also be used on the north and east elevations of the building as an accent material.

The project is proposing a canopy/awning that extends over the sidewalk and some of the parking.

The basement level of the building will include mechanical areas, storage, laundry, restrooms, a tavern and an exercise area.

The main level of the building contains a lobby area and nine hotel units. The second level of the building will have 10 hotel units and the third level nine units and a lounge area.

The plan is currently being reviewed by the city and WEB hopes to begin work as soon as the necessary permits are approved.

WEB is also working on adding a boutique hotel on the fourth floor of Bridge Plaza building downtown.

"There doesn't seem to be enough hotel rooms available downtown," Williams said.

City leaders have long said there aren't enough downtown hotel rooms to accommodate many of the conventions and other events hosted at the civic center and other venues.

Several other projects are being proposed, including the renovation of the Landmark Building on the corner of Main and Second streets and a renovation of the City Center Hotel. A hotel next to the former downtown post office building had been proposed prior to the pandemic but hasn't been pursued since then.

Rich phone history

The Mankato Citizens Telephone Company came about a couple of decades after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875. There were some phones installed in Mankato, but businesses were unhappy with them.

In 1898 Mankato businessmen formed Mankato Citizens, led by Judge Lorin Cray, according to the Blue Earth County Historical Society. The company had 660 subscribers when it started, all with two- or three-digit phone numbers.

The company's name was changed to HickoryTech in 2000 and the company was later purchased by Enventis and then, in 2014, by Consolidated Communications.