Elwood Hotel & Suites opened in Lexington in September. Located just off South Broadway near its intersection with Mason Headley and next to the new Lexington Clinic, the boutique hotel stands out with its colorful four-story mural adorning an otherwise white façade. Artistic and eclectic touches continue inside, with the mural theme continuing along hallway corridors and guest rooms appointed with bright red vintage-style mini-fridges and comfortable décor that hints at a Thoroughbred theme without going overboard.
Travelers who once sought familiarity and consistency are now searching for an “individual, authentic and local experience,” said Hilda Delgado, who, along with her husband, David Bader, created Elwood Hotel to reflect its Lexington location.
Fiddletree Kitchen & Bar, located in the lobby, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers indoor dining as well as an outdoor terrace with firepits. Delgado wants Fiddletree to be known as a three-meal restaurant in the community that happens to be in a hotel, instead of just a hotel restaurant, she said. In all, Elwood Hotel & Suites has 62 rooms across four floors, approximately a third of which are extended-stay suites with a kitchenette.
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Photo by Alyssa Rosenheck
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Photo by Alyssa Rosenheck
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Photo by Alyssa Rosenheck
Through their company, Los Angeles-based Deseo Group, the Elwood is the first of what Delgado and Bader plan will be a group of boutique hotels located in secondary markets with a lot of demand, each with a unique look and feel. In Central Kentucky, for example, tourists come in for sporting events, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Keeneland and other equine enterprises, while business, conferences and hospitals bring in other travelers, making Lexington the perfect spot to launch their new hospitality concept.
“We are looking for similar towns, starting in the Southeast,” Bader said.
Bader is originally from Lexington. He lived here until he was 14, when his family moved to Boca Raton, Florida. He studied design and construction at the University of Florida and then took off for California. “Although I’m still a very big Kentucky fan, I’m kind of torn,” he admitted, “especially during basketball season.”
Delgado worked in Northern Kentucky in the mid-2000s and recalls her first drive to Lexington as “love at first sight.” She had never seen so much beauty at the same time, from the rolling hills and manicured pastures to the Thoroughbreds and fences. “When David and I started conversations around growing a portfolio of boutique hotels, we knew that Lexington had to be where it all started.”
The Elwood property has been through several ownerships over the past three decades, many of which were associated with the Campbell House next door. When Bader and Delgado found the property in June 2019, Bader tracked down the owner in Louisiana “and over the course of six months, talked him into selling the property,” he said. Deseo Group closed the transaction in March 2020, a week into lockdown.
Photo by Alyssa Rosenheck
“A select-service hotelier bought it about two years prior to us and did some renovations,” Bader said, of an industry term meaning a hotel with no food and beverage service. “We undid those renovations and took it down to its bones.”
Deseo Group held a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Commerce Lexington in late August and opened for business right after Labor Day.
Local businesses have a big presence at Elwood Hotel, including Jarboe Construction, EOP Architects, Community Trust Bank for lending and Bullhorn Creative for branding. “The only nonlocal designer we have is our restaurant designer,” Bader said. “Everyone else is 100 percent local, including all of the trade contractors, and that was on purpose.”
Delgado and Bader were impressed with EOP Architects from their designs of the visitors’ center at Bulleit Distilling Co. in Shelbyville and the welcome center at Woodford Reserve in Versailles, and they worked with EOP interior designer Lesley Thomas. “She was the primary reason we selected EOP,” Delgado said. “We knew she would understand our vision and be flexible and collaborative with our input.”
“When David and I started conversations around growing a portfolio of boutique hotels, we knew Lexington had to be where it all started.” —Hilda Delgado
Photo by Alyssa Rosenheck
Art is an important factor in creating a bespoke design. Working with LexArts, Delgado and Bader received close to 200 applications for the exterior mural. They chose Canadian artist Alixandra Jade. “And then we doubled her scope,” Bader said. Jade also hand-painted a mural in the conservatory and artwork throughout the corridors on each floor.
To support and promote a different local nonprofit each month, Deseo Group started an in-house philanthropic program called Elwood Social Club. On the last Saturday of the month, a percentage of that day’s revenue from rooms, food and beverage are donated to a local organization. LexArts was the inaugural beneficiary in September, Lexington Humane Society in October.
Bullhorn Creative guided Delgado and Bader through a naming process that landed on the hotel’s name. Elwood was also the name of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1904 and the first Derby entrant and winner to be owned by a woman (Lasca Durnell) and the first winner bred by a woman (Emma Prather).
Everything about Elwood Hotel & Suites is focused on “originality and being experiential,” Delgado said. “Individuality is a must.”