TOLEDO, Ohio — In August of last year, it was announced that the Park Inn on Summit and Monroe would be transformed into the Hilton Garden Inn & Homewood Suites.
More than a year later, WTOL 11 got an exclusive look on how the project is going and what the hotel will look like once completed.
"We're going to have the newest ballroom in town, we have 8,000-square feet of meeting space, so it's just going to be so much more convenient," said Michael Lyman, complex director of sales and marketing.
Guests will enter the building through the lobby and have views of a brand-new park outside.
On the higher floors, WTOL got a sneak peek at the progress of the two different sides of the hotel from the Hilton Garden Inn side and the Homewood Suites side, complete with a kitchen area and the option of multiple bedrooms.
A new restaurant, the Napa Kitchen and Bar, will also be on the ground floor and open to the public.
The project is made possible in part by a $35 million investment by Lucas County - money that Lucas County commissioner Tina Wozniak believes is worth it and will be paid back over time.
"In order to get hotels into downtowns anymore, the public side has to be willing to make an investment to bring in the developers, and it worked beautifully this time," Wozniak said.
The county and hotel operators anticipate the newly renovated Glass City Convention and Event Center opening next August will be a big draw to fill up the 309-room hotel - which will more than double the amount of hotel rooms currently available in downtown Toledo.
"People looked at me funny coming from New York City, saying, 'why would you come to Toledo?' and I said, 'have you seen Toledo lately?'" Lyman said.
Lyman believes there is a need for this type of hotel downtown, and Wozniak agrees.
"It was just very obvious to us who had already done the Huntington Center, who had already done investment in Fifth Third Field, that this was the next piece," Wozniak said.
The hotel is expected to open at the end of April 2022.