Saying it will be the “poshest property” in its portfolio, the luxury lifestyle brand Aparium has announced its new $60-million Daxton Hotel in downtown Birmingham will open in January. It joins five other upscale hotels Chicago-based Aparium plans to open by spring 2022.
The 151-room Daxton Hotel, which joins Aparium’s Foundation Hotel in the former Detroit Fire Department headquarters in downtown Detroit, offers completely new construction.
The Daxton, located at the northwest corner of South Old Woodward and E. Brown Street (298 S. Old Woodward), joins other upcoming hotels in Tampa (Hotel Haya); Des Moines (Surety Hotel); Fargo (Jasper Hotel); Denver (The Clayton); and Alexandria (Hotel Heron).
Specializing in opening hotels outside of major cities, Aparium “decided to turn the conventional development formula inside out,” says Kevin Robinson, co-founder of Aparium with Mario Tricoci. “Instead of imposing a brand on a city, we’d harness a city’s spirit and stories to build singular hotels with a native soul, and they in turn would form the Aparium brand.”
Robinson, a former Four Seasons Hotels executive, continued. “Guests are no longer interested in generic brand experiences,” he says. “Like travelers themselves, our teams explore the people, flavors, and stories that make a city surprising, and express that sense of place through our properties. Each hotel should make you curious about its home city.”
The five-story Daxton Hotel will offer a 300-person ballroom, called the Full Salon, along with what it calls semi-private luxe parlor spaces — Salon I and Salon II, along with Mezzanine I, Mezzanine II, Parlour I, Parlour II, and a 12-person Wine Room.
It will be joined by Madam, a 71-seat bar and lounge that will feature a “refined menu of enlightened American fare.” Located on the first floor next to the main lobby off of South Old Woodward, the space also includes a 12-seat private dining room. A full spa is planned, and the hotel has been approved for a liquor license.
The hotel was designed by Simeone Deary in Chicago, and will offer “exquisite materials (that) complement minimalist-luxe designs and cutting-edge art curated by world-famous Saatchi Art.
“Sleek glass walls and avant-garde furniture frame public areas. Color floods spaces throughout the hotel — a chartreuse lobby, deep-burgundy guestrooms, lavender parlors. Madam, the hotel’s dining space, will serve enlightened American fare under lush greenery hanging from high ceilings reflected in wood floors.”
The contractor is Clark Construction Co. in Lansing. The top floor will offer 17 penthouse residences, while there will be two floors of underground parking. The total building offers 159,000 square feet of space.
