A Restart on Meridian Street
Ridgeline Development Partners targets a fourth-quarter 2026 completion for a 116-room Motto by Hilton at 1 N. Meridian St. in Indianapolis. IBJ reported in February 2025 that the developer planned to resume redevelopment work in the second quarter of 2025.
The hotel takes shape in the 11-story King Cole building. The building was completed in 1915 and sits just south of Monument Circle. Vonnegut Bohn & Mueller designed it, and it opened as the Kahn Tailoring Co. Building.
Ridgeline is a subsidiary of The Gettys Group, the Chicago hospitality design and development firm. Indy Propco LLC, an affiliate of both companies, has owned the property since early 2019.
The Supply Question the Keys Raise
Downtown Indianapolis carries nearly 8,800 hotel rooms. About 18 percent of them are classified as luxury, and that share grows to about 24 percent if the entirety of the city's 2,600-room pipeline completes. IBJ published both figures.
The 116 Motto keys land inside that pipeline. The Indiana Convention Center expansion and the 803-room Signia by Hilton sit in the same window, with a December 2026 opening date on Visit Indy's development page.
Visit Indy's development list names the downtown pieces with room counts. The Motto carries 116 rooms, a Kimpton in the Odd Fellows building carries 167, a Renaissance conversion on Monument Circle carries 378, and a Ritz-Carlton carries 176. That named set totals 837 rooms.
Three published facts frame the supply question for this property. The building holds 116 keys. Completion is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. The flag is Motto by Hilton. The published record stops there on rate position and meeting inventory.
Cost Growth From $21 Million
The conversion was announced before the pandemic with a $21 million cost estimate. By 2022 the projected cost had reached $54 million. Rob Hunden, a spokesperson for The Gettys Group, told IBJ the group expects the price tag to land “10% higher than before,” which puts it close to $60 million.
Hunden cited construction costs that rose across the board and said debt markets have recovered since the pandemic. The company told IBJ it remains confident in the project and its economics, and it cited the city's business recruitment, sports calendar, convention center and affordability for group and leisure travelers.
The Food and Beverage Plan
The rooftop bar and restaurant overlooking Monument Circle stay in the plan. The building keeps a street-level cafe. Gettys and Ridgeline now expect to add a street-level bar and lounge, likely in the space Qdoba occupied until it closed in late 2024. The basement could be reconfigured into a high-end restaurant.
Three outlets on a 116-key property each carry their own labor, management and opening cost. The rooftop looks over the city's central civic space, and the cafe and the bar open at the building's base on Meridian Street.
The basement carries a restaurant history of its own. The Seville Tavern operated there from 1929 to 1957, and the King Cole restaurant followed. That restaurant closed in the mid-1990s, and the building kept the name.
The Delay on the Record
The project has sought the conversion since 2019. The Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission extended the certificate of appropriateness by two years in early February 2025. The certificate had expired in 2023. The commission approved the extension unanimously, with one abstention.
Company officials attributed the years of delay to economic conditions and rising construction costs. Gettys received approval for $9.2 million in tax-increment financing bonds from the city in 2022, and it anticipates using federal historic tax credits.
The Points to Watch
The developer's February 2025 update named a second-quarter 2025 restart. Completion is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. Gettys expects to retain the Motto flag and to keep the rooftop bar and restaurant in the plan.
The published record covers the key count, the cost path, the food and beverage plan and the preservation step. Rate positioning, meeting space and the final cost figure remain open, and each one moves the supply case for downtown Indianapolis.