The Ace Hotel is moving forward and is on schedule and plans to open in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh in the spring of 2015.
While a hush had settled on the project following the passing of Alexander Calderwood, founder and chairman of the Ace hotel chain who died in London in the fall of 2013, work has continued unabated, says Matt Ciccone of Edile LLC, a co-developer of the project. Construction got under way last November.
“We’ve been reluctant to talk much about it,” adds Ciccone, “but it’s moving along. It’s a complex deal involving historic and new market tax credits.”
The Ace Hotel is a much sought-after boutique brand, known as a chic place to stay with vintage touches such as record players and army blankets. As one customer put it, “the Ace is everything you need and nothing you don’t.”
Plans call for a historic rehab of the former YMCA building at 120 S. Whitfield St. into a 63-room, five-story hotel with a restaurant, ballroom and gym.
The $23 million project is being built through a combination of equity, debt and historic and new market tax credits as well as a $75,000 grant from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Projects developers are Ciccone, Nate Cunningham and Claire Hosteny of East End Development Partners and Thomas Bost of Bost Development.
Chad Chalmers of Moss Architects and The Ace Hotel design team, Atelier Ace, are working together on the design.
The Ace Hotel company is based in New York City and Portland, Oregon.