Newly open Hotel Vandivort hopes to attract out-of-towners, but locals, too
Hotels are, by their nature, largely marketed to those from outside the area, who need a place to stay when they're away from home.
While the hotel that opened Monday in downtown Springfield aims for that market, owners Billy, John and Karen McQueary also hope that it will be a gathering place for those who aren't far away from home at all.
"We plan on the lobby being full of locals," John McQueary said as he stood there Monday morning.
After a soft launch over the weekend for family and friends, the 50-unit Hotel Vandivort was set to have "a handful of arrivals" spending Monday night — its first open to the public. Table settings were in place for the first round of diners at the restaurant in the lobby that faces Walnut Street.
"We were shooting for something you wouldn't see elsewhere in Springfield," Karen McQueary said.
Brothers Billy and John McQueary were working for the family business — Springfield pharmaceutical distributor McQueary Brothers Drug Co. — when it was acquired by San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. for $190 million in 2008. Software developers by trade, the two then founded a company known as Function 15 Software before deciding to purchase the building at 305 E. Walnut St. in 2012. Converting it into a hotel has been the focus of the two — and John's wife Karen — ever since.
"We were up for a new challenge," Billy McQueary said. "It seemed like something downtown needed."
While recent years have seen multiple landmark buildings downtown turned into living spaces, the McQuearys have been alone in creating a hotel. (Prior to the Monday opening, the nearest lodging to downtown Springfield had been the University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center, along with a couple bed-and-breakfasts, about half a mile east.)
Built in 1906, the four-story structure on Walnut Street next to the Landers Theatre originally served as a Masonic Lodge, but was renovated into offices in the 1980s. After doing some work on the foundation, renovation of the building's interior for the hotel project began in 2013.
The hotel includes 50 units divided into several categories, from the "Humble Queen" to the 1,500 square-foot "Master Suite." On Monday, the hotel's website indicated nightly rates of $179 for the queen and $309 for the suite, which is booked through this weekend. A ballroom on the top floor can hold up to 200, and weddings packages are available. John McQueary described the hotel's target demographic as "pretty much anyone who wants an upscale experience and to get a sense of the local atmosphere, which is a big part of what we are here."
The lobby features The Order, an approximately 70-seat restaurant that focuses on local suppliers. A lunchtime menu includes sandwiches between $8 and $13; dinner includes entrees between $13 and $27. Breakfast and smaller plates are also served, and the cocktails are also a key focus.
The McQuearys hope The Order, along with another 80 seats around the lobby, will be the attraction that draws Springfieldians to mix with the out-of-town hotel guests. Conference rooms are also available for public use.
"It's kind of unusual for a hotel for the locals to be a target market, but they absolutely are here," John McQueary said.
Karen McQueary, who spearheaded the design within the hotel, categorized the look with the word "juxtaposition."
"It's embracing the historic element of the building, and also pairing it with the modern aesthetic," she said.
Artwork by local artists is scattered around the lobby, and within the rooms. The Order features about 90 hand-blown glass globes made at the nearby Springfield Hot Glass on South Campbell Street. Behind the front desk, a wall of live greenery surrounds the "V" that is the hotel logo. The V was crafted so that the negative space within it forms the shape of a plumb bob — a tool used by masons to determine true vertical lines — in a nod to the building's past. The V is even worked into the legs of two long wooden tables near the rear of the lobby.
"The main goal was to have this welcoming, almost timeless — and yet inventive — space," Karen McQueary said.
The tax incentive involved
Built in 1906, the four-story structure next to the Landers Theatre originally served as a Masonic temple but was renovated into offices in the 1980s.
As part of that development, the city granted partial property tax abatement, which included designating the property as blighted.
When developers John and Billy McQueary wanted to turn the property into a hotel, city staff didn't want to re-blight the property. But City Council agreed to provide incentives through Chapter 100 financing, which doesn't require that designation.
As part of the financing, the developers receive 100 percent real estate property tax abatement on the improvements to the building for 10 years, and 75 percent abatement for 15 years after that if the project receives LEED certification. They continue to pay real estate property tax on the base value of the property before the improvements were made.