BOKA Powell has been engaged to provide design services for the Peabody Hotel Roanoke.
Fort Worth Business Press: Peabody Hotel – and ducks – planned for Roanoke
by COURTNEY DABNEY
Bluff City Group, in partnership with Peabody Hotels & Resorts and the City of Roanoke, plans to build a 300-room hotel on Oak Street.
Peabody Hotels & Resorts, a division of Belz Enterprises of Memphis, Tennessee, is a hotel and resort management venture developed around the long-established brand of its historic flagship property The Peabody Memphis, a four-star, four-diamond luxury hotel.
The legendary Peabody originally opened in Memphis in 1869, and is known, among other things, for the March of Ducks through the lobby to the hotel’s central fountain, a tradition started in 1933.
In similar fashion to the original Peabody hotel, The Peabody Roanoke will include an expansive Grand Lobby with an overlooking mezzanine and a large fountain with ducks swimming daily at its center.
“Yes, we will be bringing the ducks to Roanoke,” said Douglas V. Browne, president of Peabody Hotels & Resorts.
Roanoke Mayor Scooter Giersch announced the addition to the city’s growing downtown area June 29 at the Roanoke Community Center, within blocks of the new hotel’s planned site. Plans are to open The Peabody Roanoke within two years. It will be located adjacent to Roanoke’s new City Hall.
The Peabody Roanoke will be a full-service hotel and conference center with many of the same amenities found at the flagship hotel in Memphis. Feather’s Spa will be located on the rooftop along with the Duck Palace housing the world-famous Peabody marching mallard ducks.
Initial plans include 300 rooms and suites and more than 30,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space. Among the other amenities featured in the eight-story hotel will be a restaurant, two bars, a fitness center and a large rooftop swimming pool.
The Peabody Roanoke will serve as an anchor to South Oak Street.
“This announcement represents a critical piece to the downtown mixed-use project, and will create incredible synergy for the entire area,” said Scott Campbell, the Roanoke city manager.