The first hotel to be built in Lexington’s historic Distillery District is nearly finished. The seven-story, 125-room boutique hotel named The Manchester will open its doors to guests later this spring. Developers began constructing the $38 million hotel at 941 Manchester Street in December 2021. It sits on land once occupied by Ashland Distillery, which opened in 1865, the same year a tiny nearby college first opened its doors. It would eventually grow into the University of Kentucky.
The hotel will offer upscale guestrooms configured in a mix of kings, double queens and quads (high-end bunk beds for small groups). The seventh floor will have five penthouse suites that can be sold by the night but have also been designed for long-term stays. Those suites include kitchenettes, dining and living rooms, oversized bathrooms and wet bars.
An Art Deco rooftop bar and lounge called Lost Palm reflects 1960s South Florida horse racing culture. Additionally, the hotel will have a 140-seat premium restaurant called Granddam which will serve “classical Appalachian dishes,” according to a design plan. Views of downtown Lexington will be visible from the rooftop.
The lobby will have a bar and lounge and a bespoke bottle shop, described as a rare bourbon and rye tasting shop where buyers can take bottles with them or have them shipped.
The Manchester, a boutique hotel in the Distillery District, will include 125 guests rooms aswell as a restaurant and rooftop bar and lounge.
VisitLEX, Lexington’s convention and visitor’s bureau, supports placing a new hotel near the downtown core because it believes more sleeping rooms are needed. “VisitLEX is thrilled about the upcoming opening of The Manchester,” said Martina Barksdale, director of communications with VisitLEX. “The hotel will serve as an anchor to our Distillery District and provide another unique and beautiful hotel that will not only be an amazing place for travelers, but also a fantastic addition to our city.”
Hank Morris and Nik Feldman of New Circle Investments are project developers. The pair were classmates at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. Morris is an experienced hotel developer. This is Feldman’s first venture into building hotels. He spent many of his early years in Lexington and is proud to bring something unique to the city.
“We could have done this anywhere, but we decided to do it here,” Feldman said. “That’s because I love Lexington. Hank and I are building something the community will also love. We’re confident we’ve done that and can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”
Feldman said the pair had numerous opportunities to make The Manchester a branded hotel but felt branding it would have been less genuine. “This hotel was built so that Lexingtonians could proudly call it their own,” he said.
The new hotel’s location is key. The Manchester will be only a couple of blocks from the renovated Central Bank Center with its myriad ball games, concerts, conventions and other events; a portion of the ever-expanding Town Branch Trail, and the planned 10-acre Town Branch Park, where construction is due to start this spring. The park will have a performance stage, a great lawn, water play area with splash pad, trails and two dog areas for large and small breeds. It is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
Farther down Manchester Street and away from downtown is the James E. Pepper Distillery, which began making bourbon in 1879. The property was abandoned in 1958 and sat untouched for half a century until entrepreneurs got involved in the site and slowly began to bring it back to life. There are now two working distilleries in the area — Pepper and Barrel House Distillery. Craft brewer Ethereal Brewing and Wise Bird Cider Co. are also nearby, along with various restaurants and taverns, The Burl live music venue, event spaces and a collection of small businesses, some of which are housed in the old Pepper Rickhouse, where bourbon barrels were once aged.
Manchester Street, from downtown to the Distillery District, is an active entertainment corridor where a new hotel like The Manchester will likely be mutually beneficial for hotel and local business owners and guests.
Morris says a big part of selecting a site for the new hotel was the planned development of Town Branch Park. “That will connect from the back of the Central Bank Center right up to our doorstep,” he said. “We’re pleased they will break ground soon.”
Morris adds that The Manchester will be closer to Central Bank Center than some people may think. He estimates the distance from the Center to The Manchester is about the same as from the Center to the Marriott or the Residence Inn, both located at City Center.
Next door to the hotel, at 903 Manchester Street, is a historic building purchased by Morris and Feldman, but it will not be directly affiliated with the hotel. Named 903 Venues, the property plan calls for a 4,000-square-foot restaurant and bar and 12,000 square feet of meeting and private event space. The property will offer event planning, in-house catering and bar service. In addition, there are plans for a salon and a boutique retail store.
Lexington-based EOP Architects designed the Manchester. Wells & Wells Construction Company is building the hotel. The firm is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, with branch offices in Durham, North Carolina, and one in Lexington, which opened three years ago. Wells & Wells has constructed two prominent multifamily and student apartment buildings adjacent to the University of Kentucky campus called Hub on Campus Lexington and Hub on Campus Limestone. Each building has retail stores on its first floor.
The Manchester is the company’s first true hotel construction. David Leone is the Wells & Wells business development manager in Lexington. “It is exciting what is happening down on Manchester Street,” Leone said. “I am from Lexington and am invested in what happens here. I love it. This hotel is exciting and a great opportunity to revamp an area of town that has needed it. It will make Lexington better and bring more jobs.”