Prohibition-Era Building Gains Hostel, Hunts for Restaurant & Bar Operator

Budget travelers be advised: Detroit is poised to gain a new hostel in Cass Corridor. Located in a historic building home formerly home to a rough-and-tumble prohibition-era hotel, Curbed reports that the new 60-room Boulevard Hostel is slated to arrive in early 2018 at 2929 Second Avenue.

Southfield-based attorney Scott Roberts and Detroit native-turned-Helsinki hostel operator Oliver Lewis are behind 60-room project. Roberts tells Eater the plans also call for a restaurant and bar on the premises, though they’re still looking for a restaurateur to take on the space. “We have 2,500-square-feet allocated to the restaurant,” he says, adding that the space will be white boxed. The owner of the property has already begun process of gaining a liquor license.

Roberts says he and Lewis have met with several potential partners but haven’t found the right fit yet. While the hostel itself won’t have a prohibition theme, Roberts says he could see the bar and restaurant possibly taking on a speakeasy or whiskey bootlegging ethos. “We would like something that works with the building’s history and we would like something that offers breakfast service since that would be important to our guests,” he says.

In addition to the dedicated restaurant and bar space, the hostel will also have a 1,000-square-foot events space that “we would love the bar and restaurant to utilize in some way.”

Roberts is asking interested parties to reach out to him by email at scott.f.roberts@gmail.com. “If need be we would be interested in putting some money into it ourselves as a possible partnership,” he says.

In other development news, forthcoming condo development The Selden is still looking for a restaurant partner to open on the ground floor of the building. That project is expected to debut this summer.

• This Cass Corridor Property Will Be Redeveloped Into the Boulevard Hostel [CDET]

• All Up For Grabs Coverage [ED]