Proposed hotel planned for Museum Plaza site in downtown Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A new 1,000-room hotel could be coming to downtown Louisville.

Louisville-based Poe Cos. (Companies) are in the "predevelopment" phases of a 1,000-room hotel at the former Museum Plaza site, next to the Muhammad Ali Center, according to our partners at Louisville Business First.

Poe Cos. President Hank Hillebrand told Louisville Business First the company has drawings for the project that is in an "initial stage for budget pricing."

Current plans for the hotel show more than 10,000-square-feet of meeting space and new bourbon tourism experiences. The company did not say how many floors the hotel will have or a timeline on construction and opening.

Louisville Business First reported this proposed hotel could be the city's second-largest hotel, behind the 1,310-room Galt House Hotel. Hillebrand said this new hotel could attract more conventions to come to the city.

"There are a significant number of conventions that exclusively look at cities that have a 1,000-room upscale headquarter hotel,” Hillebrand said in the email to Louisville Business First. “The state’s new investments into the expansion of the (Kentucky) Exposition Center will generate more demand for larger conventions."

Last year, Poe Cos. was chosen to submit development proposals for the nine-acre site located between River Road, Main Street, Seventh Street and Washington Street.

Three groups given development rights to city-owned downtown Louisville real estate