Work to restore Sioux City’s historic Warrior Hotel is now about one year away from completion.
Restoration Iowa vice president Alex Cherubin is overseeing the $73 million project. “We got the interior framing, exterior framing done. New windows, utilities are going in, so we’re just chugging along. Sill on track to open next summer– summer of 2020,” Cherubin says.
He says they are trying to restore the original look of the venerable structure which will be a 148 room Marriott autograph hotel.
“We’ve been fortunate with the terra cotta that we still have in place outside — we are able to replicate and repair a lot of that. Other than that we do use photos. The owners do own their own stone company and we are able to replicate it through them,” according to Cherubin.
The Warrior located at 6th and Nebraska streets was built in 1930 and closed in 1976. Around 100 local construction workers are involved in the renovation of the Warrior and the adjoining 106-year-old Davidson Building, which is also part of the renovation.
“We will have 22 luxury apartments located on top of the Davidson. A mix of one-bedroom, one-bedroom lofts and two bedrooms,” Cherubin says. “So they will be all inclusive — so utilities will be include. And they will have access to the same amenities as the hotel guests here.”
Hotel managers will be hired in the coming months, and then they will begin hiring the staff around three months before the hotel is set to open.
(Story and photo by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)