Hotel project could link Ironworks to Fashion Mall for pedestrians

The developer behind the Ironworks apartment complex at East 86th Street and Keystone Avenue finally might get its long-coveted pedestrian connection to the Fashion Mall at Keystone.

Hendricks Commercial Properties LLC of Beloit, Wis., is seeking a tax break as part of its plan to build a $20.1 million, 120-room hotel next to Ironworks. The two-year tax abatement would save Hendricks $434,995 — enough to build 1,120 feet of sidewalk and link pedestrians from Ironworks to the upscale shopping center.

"A lot of our tenants in Ironworks are looking for connectivity," Hendricks President Rob Gerbitz said. "A lot of them really love their bikes, and we're certainly hoping that'll be just another amenity they think is a benefit to being there."

The Metropolitan Development Commission has scheduled a Wednesday hearing for Hendricks' request. Final approval could come Dec. 16.

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The hotel, also called Ironworks, will replace a 44,800-square-foot building that until last year housed a La-Z-Boy store. The five-story hotel will include 15,000 square feet of retail. Construction could begin as early as this month. The hotel is scheduled to open in April 2017.

It will be Hendricks' second Ironworks boutique hotel — the firm also operates one in Beloit. Hendricks is developing its own yet-to-be-named restaurant concept for the hotel and plans to sign a couple of additional restaurant tenants.

If a tax abatement is approved, Hendricks would be required to build a sidewalk connecting Ironworks to the rest of the area's retail. That would benefit not only hotel guests, but also residents and people who live in a nearby subdivision, Gerbitz said.

Although a sidewalk is a seemingly small part of a $20 million-plus project, Hendricks has been wanting one since before the Ironworks apartment building opened last year. That project is a $30 million, 120-unit apartment complex with a 1920s industrial aesthetic. The building has 36,000 square feet of retail, including a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

Ironworks is somewhat isolated from the rest of the bustling Keystone retail scene. Anyone who wants to walk between Ironworks and the Fashion Mall would have to traverse a narrow shoulder along East 86th Street, under the Keystone overpass and across two highway ramps. A new sidewalk will make the walk from Ironworks to the mall about three blocks, Gerbitz said.

Hendricks estimates the hotel will create 14 full-time jobs with average wages of $27 an hour. The project also will create up to 80 part-time jobs.

In addition to Ironworks, Hendricks owns the Century building, a Downtown office building at 36 S. Pennsylvania St. The developer might not be done with the Ironworks site after the hotel is completed. The company owns another small site next to the apartment building that could be used for a retail development.

"Maybe some day, if we find the right tenant that's interested in that and find it's the right fit for the overall brand of Ironworks, we'd look to do it," Gerbitz said. "It's certainly nothing the size of Ironworks or Ironworks hotel. It'd be a smaller site. It'd be a building that would very much complement Ironworks."

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Call Star reporter James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.