After two years of renovation, crews are placing finishing touches and moving furniture into the Waymark Hotel in downtown Chattanooga ahead of the Waymark’s opening by the end of the year.
Wisconsin-based HKS Holdings invested $59 million to renovate the nearly century-old Chattanooga Bank Building into a 148-room hotel in the Tapestry Collection by Hilton. The Waymark will feature Chattanooga’s tallest rooftop bar and a speakeasy in the former bank vault in the basement.
The 11-story building stands along Eighth Street between Broad and Market streets. It was designed by renowned local architect R.H. Hunt and completed in 1927 as the home of the Chattanooga Savings Bank, later becoming part of First National Bank and then an office tower.
There are 25 hotels with the Hilton brand in the Chattanooga region, including the $60 million Embassy Suites on Broad Street. But The Waymark is the first upscale boutique Hilton in the city, said Heriberto Calderon, regional vice president of sales and marketing at Concord Hospitality, the North Carolina-based company that will manage the hotel.
The Embassy Suites opened in August. The Waymark is scheduled to open Dec. 29, provided it clears inspections, Calderon said.
“We came in working with community partners, and we brought this building back to life and gave it a new identity, while still keeping the history of it,” Calderon said on a tour of the hotel.
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An affiliate of HKS Holdings purchased the vacant building for $4.9 million in 2023, according to property records. HKS Holdings has completed more than $400 million in real estate development projects, according to its website. The company owns six hotels, most in the Milwaukee area.
Multiple developers had announced plans for a hotel in the Chattanooga Bank Building, including a Crown Plaza hotel in 2009 and an Aloft hotel in 2018, though the projects were never built.
The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980 and will remain on the list after developers restored many of its original elements, like the brass elevator doors and marble lobby staircase, Calderon said.
Hilton’s Tapestry Collection is designed for hotels with a unique identity rooted in their location. The Waymark is named for an object that guides travelers, an homage to the city’s outdoor adventure culture, Calderon said.
The historic preservation project is one of several Chattanooga hotel projects under construction or design that will add more than 1,200 rooms as visitor spending in Hamilton County reached a record $1.8 billion in 2024.
While HKS Holdings owns the hotel, Concord Hospitality will hire between 70-75 employees to manage the hotel, Calderon said.
Waymark Hotel, first boutique Hilton in Chattanooga, to open by year’s end
ROOFTOP, VAULT
The hotel’s main entrance will be on Eighth Street between Broad and Market streets, where the calmer side street will allow for better traffic flow and valet parking. The hotel does not have its own on-site parking.
The Waymark is designed to be a destination for more than just its guests. An 11th-floor rooftop bar, called The Iris after Tennessee’s state flower, will feature a menu of shareable plates by executive chef Wilbur Cox.
“While the menu will have a good selection, we’re not really advertising dinner,” Calderon said.
The rooftop has indoor and outdoor seating on a patio with fire pits and panoramic views of downtown Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain. It could be an ideal future venue for New Year’s or Fourth of July celebrations, Calderon said.
A version of the rooftop menu will be available at The Vault Speakeasy, a bar in the former bank vault below the building. The speakeasy will open around a month after The Waymark opens, with a capacity for around 35 people, Calderon said.
“It’s going to be very intimate,” Calderon said. “It can also be rented out for private events.”
DELUXE SUITES
There are 26 suites in The Waymark, including tw0 800-square-foot executive suites, spa deluxe rooms with oversize tubs and rooms with special mountain views.
The rooms have lots of natural light, and the design team wanted to keep the color palette light to match, Calderon said.
The hotel has more than 3,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes the Vista Ballroom on the 11th floor and the Library boardroom off the lobby.
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Chattanooga-based HK Architects collaborated with New York-based Dutch East Design on the hotel’s design and worked with local sculptor Aubrey Charnell to recreate the original crown molding. Locally based Grace Construction served as the general contractor for the renovation.
Charnell’s work added an artistic touch to the project along with the historic preservation, said Katie Cox, director of sales at the hotel.
“This distinctive property preserves original architectural details, including brass letter drops on each floor, original brass elevator doors and vintage elevator dials,” Cox said in an email.
Contact business reporter Daniel Dassow at ddassow@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318