New Omni Hotel Breaks Ground Next to Kentucky International Convention Center

February 3, 2016

Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts broke ground on its 30-story, 853,000-square-foot hotel and luxury apartment complex today in downtown Louisville adjacent to the Kentucky International Convention Center.

“The Omni is a game-changer for Louisville’s hospitality industry increasing our convention business potential in a competitive marketplace. Louisville currently hosts 12.7 million visitors each year,” said Karen Williams, president and CEO of the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

He added, “A hotel project of this scope will help support further tourism growth.”

The Omni Louisville Hotel is slated to open by March 31, 2018, and will have 612 hotel rooms and 225 luxury apartments.

In addition, the complex will have nearly 70,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and three restaurants, including Bob's Steak & Chophouse, a popular steakhouse in existing Omni properties.

There also will be a lobby lounge and a lower-level rooftop pool deck that will have a bar and full kitchen. In a nod to Louisville’s bourbon history and culture, the Omni plans to create a speakeasy-style bar with bowling lanes on the lobby level.

Other planned amenities include a spa and fitness center and an urban grocery and market that will offer an array of groceries and household products.

Robert Rowling, founder of Dallas-based TRT Holdings, the holding company of Omni Hotels & Resorts, was on-hand at the groundbreaking to talk about the importance of the project to Omni and how they plan to incorporate the uniqueness and special culture of Louisville into the design so it will not be a “cookie-cutter property”. 

“Of all the things going on at Omni right now, this is probably the one I'm most excited about,” Rowling said.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer added that Omni is an “authentic, unique brand that will become part of our city’s DNA.”

The Omni will offer another high-end brand to leisure travelers and help Louisville attract larger conventions with the addition of more than 600 new hotel rooms.

The timing is bolstered by the renovation and expansion of the adjacent Kentucky International Convention Center, which is set to be complete in August 2018.

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