Drawing of proposed Moxy hotel.
An Iowa-based hospitality company is making its first venture into Nebraska.
Hawkeye Hotels, headquartered in Coralville, is set to break ground on a new hotel on a busy corner of the Old Market area in Omaha. Hawkeye’s chief development officer Raj Patel says the structure was originally going to rise eight stories.
“Through working with city planners and historic preservation committees, we learned six stories would really be a better fit for the neighborhood so we took our height down to six stories,” Patel says. “We also took a lot of design inspiration from around the Old Market and our entire facade is going to be brick.” Patel says “The Moxy” is an affordable boutique hotel line that is designed to bring guests together.
“The room sizes are smaller,” he says. “That’s the trend of hotels is to do more fresh-design rooms but more immersive social spaces where guests can be more encouraged to hang out in the lobby or at the bar.” The 105-room hotel will cater to the design trends and preferences of millennial and business travelers. Patel says it’s an honor to be selected to build in the historic district.
Raj Patel
“For our guests and anyone staying at the hotel, you’ll walk out of the front doors and within footsteps you’ll having dining, entertainment, live music,” Patel says. “That’s really a perfect fit for The Moxy brand as well as our company, Hawkeye Hotels, to be able to have that kind of location in Omaha.” Ground will be broken in August. The hotel will add 40 jobs to the labor market in Omaha.
Founded in 1982, Hawkeye Hotels is one of America’s fastest growing privately-owned hospitality firms with over $750 million in assets across the country.