Spire takes the 55-key St. James in Selma
Spire Hospitality manages the St. James Hotel in Selma, Alabama. The property reopened on Water Avenue under the Series by Marriott collection and carries 55 rooms. Local outlets place the reopening on Tuesday 15 September 2026. The Selma Times-Journal and Black Belt News Network both carried it on 16 September 2026. WSFA reported it on 15 September 2026. Spire's own announcement to the trade is dated 6 October 2026, three weeks after the reopening.
The operating base
Guest rooms carry plush bedding, complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi, HDTVs and workspaces. Many rooms offer river views. The hotel runs a restaurant, a fitness center, flexible meeting space, breakfast and parking. Marriott Bonvoy benefits travel with the affiliation. The room count holds across three records. Spire's release names a 55-room boutique property, WSFA's 2021 coverage records 55 rooms, and the Woodforest CEI-Boulos fund one-pager names the St. James a 55-key full-service conversion.
The restoration window
The hotel stood closed and fenced off from 23 August 2025 until the reopening, a span of nearly thirteen months. Marriott's listing for the property records the address as 1200 Water Avenue. The building has overlooked the Alabama River since 1837.
The Woodforest CEI-Boulos Opportunity Fund announced a $2 million equity investment in the redevelopment in January 2021. Spire's release credits financing from Sarah Feinberg. No source read for this article links a Sarah Feinberg to the hotel or to Selma, so that name stands as the operator's.
The demand at the door
Guests walk from the door to the National Voting Rights Museum, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Old Town Historic District and sites along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Spire's release lists each of those inside walking distance. The downtown draws travellers for its arts and culture and for the Civil War and Civil Rights history around it.
The collection and its scale
Spire's release states that the St. James is the ninth Series by Marriott property in the world. Marriott's own 2025 year-in-review release reports that the collection opened 37 properties, approximately 2,600 rooms, across 23 Indian cities by year-end 2025. The same release states that Marriott signed 13 agreements in 2025 to bring Series by Marriott to markets in the United States and Canada, and opened two of those hotels in the fourth quarter. The ordinal stands as Spire's own wording, and the scope the release gives it has no published support.
The two managers
Mike Hogan, area general manager for Spire Hospitality, said the St. James adds a one-of-a-kind property to the company's portfolio. He said Spire specialises in operating properties where disciplined management and respect for a building's history work together. He said the owners are native Alabamians committed to Selma and its rebirth. Cymethia Rudolph, general manager of the St. James Hotel, said the hotel has anchored downtown Selma since 1837. She said guests step straight into the city.
Where the operator record stands
The reopening marks Spire's third property in Alabama. Spire Hospitality describes itself as an owner-centric hotel management company based in Irving, Texas, part of the AWH Partners family, which also includes AWH Development, with more than 35 years of hotel operating experience. The release publishes no room rate, no restoration cost and no reopening date of its own.