September starts with 360 more Med City hotel rooms

Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Sep. 13—Despite the pandemic, the Med City hotel boom is firing back up, with 360 new rooms in three hotels opening on Second Street Southwest in one week.

Three newly built Rochester hotels — the dual branded EVEN Hotels/Staybridge Suites combo and TownePlace Suites by Marriott — opened their doors and started checking in guests the first week of September.

As Rochester hotels work to regain their pre-pandemic footing, this burst of new hospitality offerings brings the Med City's tally of rooms very near to 6,000.

EVEN Hotels and Staybridge Suites opened at 101 11th Ave. SW, on the corner of Second Street Southwest and 11th Avenue, on Sept. 2.

It was built across from Mayo Clinic's Saint Marys Hospital on the former site of Virgil's Auto Clinic. The Nelson family operated a repair shop and gas station, founded by Virgil Nelson in 1952, until 2019. As the years rolled on, his sons, Bruce, Brad, Bob and Ronald Nelson, ran Virgil's as a classic, full-service station.

In addition to the two hotel brands, the EVEN/Staybridge property also added a new restaurant to Rochester's Second Street corridor in the form of the Cork & Kale café.

The hotel is a joint venture between Napean Capital Group, Western States Lodging and EKN Development. The hotels are managed by Western States Lodging.

EKN also spearheaded the renovation of the former downtown Holiday Inn and its relaunch under the Hotel Indigo brand, as well as the Hyatt House Rochester extended-stay hotel built on the former American Legion site at the edge of downtown Rochester.

On Sept. 9, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, an extended-stay hotel, opened for business at 601 Second St. SW. It is owned by 601 Hotel Partners LLC and managed by the North Rock Hospitality Group, both of Rochester.

North Rock also is the force behind the Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel in the Riverfront Commons area, off of 16th Street Southwest. It also has a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel in the pipeline for the Riverfront Commons area.

Tweets by WheresKiger