On a corner of the town square and within walking distance of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville will have 104 rooms and more than 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Unlike its sister hotels, the four-story contemporary building is new construction, using sustainable materials and green building practices.
In Lexington, Ky., some 90 miles from the original 21c in Louisville, plans are under way for a 90-room downtown 21c Hotel in the city’s first skyscraper, the First National Bank building.
It will have a restaurant with sidewalk seating and a glass-fronted kitchen; outdoor diners there will be able to watch a chef at work inside. A penthouse suite with a private rooftop terrace is also planned.
Like all of the other 21c hotels, Lexington’s will double as a museum for contemporary art.
Lexington’s penguins will be blue, the team color of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
“It [21c] really does elevate Lexington downtown to another level,” Lexington Mayor Jim Gray told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “It leverages everything we’ve got here. It’s authentic, unique.
“It’s a remarkable use of the space; 21c is a destination in itself, so it has that added benefit of pulling people into it and leverages the benefits for everything around it.”
Another 21c is scheduled to open in Durham, N.C., in mid-2015.
