The restoration of Hotel Elkhart has breathed new life into the city’s downtown.
Now statewide historic preservationists have taken note.
Indiana Landmarks has given developers who restored Hotel Elkhart their highest restoration prize, the Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration. In 2019 Dan Boecher, working then for Cressy Commercial, spearheaded the $19 million project, along with the non-gaming arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
The Elkhart Chamber of Commerce led the efforts to build the 117-room, 9-story hotel in 1923. As business declined, it was converted to senior living in the early 1970s. Decades later it had become a public safety concern. Multiple apartments had been condemned due to meth lab activity, the sprinkler system was nearly 50 years old, and an active water leak had caused a 30-foot hole in the ballroom’s plaster ceiling.
But Boecher saw its potential. Since the hotel opened in September 2021, 19 new businesses have opened within walking distance.
The hardest part of the project, Boecher says, was preserving the building’s historical elements, a requirement for receiving federal tax credits, while also meeting the upscale brand standards of Hilton Hotels’ Tapestry Collection.
"They have very exacting standards for what their overnight guests get to experience once you're in the room," Boecher said. "I mean it's great that it's a 100-year-old building and obviously the history is a great marketing hook for us, but at the end of the day we had to make the hotel meet the demands of today's traveler."
