Sept. 19, 2022

The new downtown Canopy by Hilton hotel won’t open until 2024, but two rooms of it already are ready to go.

You’ll find them inside a warehouse on the edge of downtown where developer Lloyd Companies has built two model rooms, joined by a short hallway.

“We do this for a number of reasons – to ensure every room is built the same, so we can finalize furniture, fixtures and equipment before we’ve ordered enough for 216 rooms, and as a way to help introduce Canopy by Hilton to the community,” said Jennifer Seifert-Brenna, Lloyd vice president of hospitality, in a statement.

“This is a lifestyle hotel that really caters to and is custom to the neighborhood. They’re designed for someone looking for an experience, wanting to stay at a high-end hotel and spend time in public spaces and walk around the neighborhood.”

The hotel is part of the multi-use Steel District, adjacent to Falls Park, on land that used to be Sioux Steel. The room design shows the century-old manufacturer is being incorporated into the hotel.

“We’re trying to bring Sioux Steel into this project as much as we can,” Seifert-Brenna said. “In the guest rooms, as you move from the entry and bath into the bedroom, there’s a large steel door like a barn door that can close off the bedroom from the dressing area, and it’s made by Sioux Steel.”

Additionally, the nightstand is designed in a Sioux Steel yellow with the manufacturer’s logo.

“And on the walls, we’ve brought in artwork and photos we took of Sioux Steel, in addition to archived documents such as a ledger and stock paper. We had it digitized and commissioned a Native American artist to draw artwork on top of the paper, which is traditional for Native American tribes. When they didn’t have a lot of resources, they would take old paper and use it for artwork,” Seifert-Brenna said.

The rooms are primarily king beds with some double queens, and suites on the corners will include balconies.

“Several of those will close off at the end of a corridor with a private door so you can open up to four rooms as a private section,” Seifert-Brenna said.

The Canopy rooms include an “un-closeted closet” or open closet, with a Nespresso coffee maker, a safe and a drawer refrigerator.

“Then you’ll find a very bright, welcoming bathroom with a back-lit mirror, beautiful tile and a fairly open space, so the whole dressing area is more spacious than you would see in a normal hotel with a lot of room to move around and prepare for your day,” Seifert-Brenna said.

There’s also lounge furniture in each room plus an oversized “very clean-topped desk with dedicated outlets above,” she continued. “And the head boards themselves have three-way light switching in them.”

While it’s unique to build a model room before the hotel, it allows designers to finalize colors and finishes and catch needed corrections such as ensuring the right light bulbs are ordered, she added.

“And we even use these rooms to test out which vacuums and cleaning supplies we should use,” Seifert-Brenna said. “It’s all about making setting up the hotel easier and then making it more efficient operationally.”

Subcontractors and vendors also can come look at the rooms to see how they’re put together before installing elements such as electrical and plumbing.

Lloyd Companies has held some invitation-only events to tour the rooms and is planning some public open houses at a future date.

“We want to introduce it to the market and get people familiar with it,” Seifert-Brenna said. “We have events on the books now from 2024 through 2026, including some conferences that literally take the entire hotel while they’re here, so we want others to come through and experience it and get excited about it.”

Design of the public spaces inside the Canopy is done. It will include a full-service Italian restaurant plus a bar/lounge, lots of indoor and outdoor gathering space and a 20,000-square-foot convention area with multiple meeting rooms and ballrooms.

Other features include a mother’s room for guests and a separate one for team members, a green room for entertainers or wedding parties getting ready, and a transfer lounge for guests wanting to spend time before a flight or before a room is ready.

“We’re excited about all those little unique pieces,” Seifert-Brenna said. “As we see the designs and the model rooms come together, the whole project is feeling more and more real and we can’t wait to welcome the community inside in 2024.”

The Steel District has started construction on the hotel but is farther along on the other two structures — a parking ramp that will include apartments and condominiums and a nine-story office and restaurant building.