Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / The Dwell Hotel sits closed on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn.Chattanooga's first boutique hotel is reopening this week in downtown Chattanooga.
The Dwell Hotel and the Matilda Midnight bar on East 10th Street closed last June amid the spring shutdowns last year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The unique 16-room hotel, which originally opened in 1909 as the Colonial Hotel, was purchased last month by the Chattanooga-based hotel chain MD Hospitality.
Dhava Patel, president and CEO of MD Hospitality, said he owns and operates 19 other hotels but Chattanooga is his home and he has been intrigued for years by The Dwell Hotel. The three-story inn bills itself as "a swanky take on mid-century modern where luxury meets retro and high class meets high comfort."
"I've lived in Chattanooga my whole life and this is definitely a unique and distinctive property we wanted to have in our portfolio," Patel said Wednesday. "This was Chattanooga's first boutique hotel and it brings vibrancy and a unique appeal to our city like the Edwin, the Kinley and other boutique hotels we've seen open here."
The Dwell Hotel is the first boutique hotel purchased by Patel, who operates other hotels under the LaQuinta, Hampton Inn, Country Inn & Suites. Holiday Inn, Best Western, Days Inn and Super 8 hotel franchises. If The Dwell proves successful, Patel said he hopes to buy or develop other boutique hotel properties.
The rooms in The Dwell, which range in rent from $235 to $400 per room, include anywhere from 300 to 700 square feet each and feature vintage items reflecting the overall unique appeal of the three-story hotel.
The hotel was formerly owned and operated by Seija Ojanpera, who converted the former Stone Fort Inn into the 16-room Dwell Hotel in 2016. But she shut down the hotel last June when the pandemic limited most travel, special events and indoor eating and drinking establishments. She put the property up for sale last year.
The Syrup and Eggs restaurant leases the back half of the first floor of The Dwell and has continued operations while the hotel was closed.
"Everything is staying the same," said L'Erin Childester, the new general manager of The Dwell Hotel. "Every room is uniquely designed with its own vintage appeal."
As in the past, the hotel is often completely rented for weddings or other special events, Childester said.
A new bar for the hotel is in the works and should open soon, she said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340