The new owner of a four-story hotel near Ponce City Market and the Atlanta Beltline is trying to keep up with the area’s rapid change.
Shyam Patel is preparing to open The Darwin Hotel, a boutique hospitality concept he said showcases the surrounding Old Fourth Ward neighborhood and how it’s changed in recent years.
Patel said the area’s history — from its roots as an industrial hub to the birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to a rapidly gentrifying area filled today with luxury apartments and trendy restaurants — inspired the design, décor and name of his independent hotel.
“Old Fourth Ward is ever-changing,” Patel told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It has changed and it’s going to continue to change so much ... we’re going to change and adapt with it.”
Named after famed biologist Charles Darwin, the hotel at 585 Parkway Drive is themed after transformation and evolution. Patel said the folded paper decorations in the hotel’s lobby, including paper planes and origami birds, represent the positive aspects of change.
The building itself has seen its share of transformation since it was built in 1993 to house construction workers for 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Patel said. It’s remained a hotel but changed hands and names frequently, including the Stratford Inn, The Ponce Hotel and a Red Roof Inn.
Patel, a consultant for a staffing company, purchased the building and Atlanta-based Hospitality Ventures Management Group began renovating it this year. Patel said he expects to open the hotel by Nov. 14 contingent on some final permit approvals from the city.
The Darwin features 111 guest rooms at rates ranging from about $179 to $450 per night. Rooms range in size from “The Cozy” at 196 square feet to 430 square feet for suites called “The Generous. There’s also 16 specialty suites, such as an audiophile room with records, a library room and a “GNO” (Girls Night Out) room for getting ready for an evening in the city.
Most of the hotel’s artwork, woodwork and paintings, including a prominent lobby mural of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, were created by local artists, Patel said. He said the artwork is also a way he’s trying to encourage guests to use the stairs rather than the hotel’s single elevator.
“How do we get people to take these stairwells that we have?” Patel said. “We designed it like the back alley of New York City, and the goal is to slowly bring artists from Atlanta to do graffiti on the (stairwell) walls.”
The Darwin joins a small list of boutique hotels in Old Fourth Ward. Developers recently renovated the historic Hotel Clermont above the famed underground Clermont Lounge adult nightspot on Ponce de Leon Avenue. The nearby Wylie Hotel has roots that date back nearly as long, and it reopened last year after undergoing restoration.
Patel said his hotel will stand out by leaning into its neighborhood theming.
“We’re trying to showcase what Atlanta has to offer,” he said.
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