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Sep 01, 2023Ho
The Kensington, formerly a low-income apartment building in downtown Norfolk, is now a Ho-Chunk Capital property. Ho-Chunk plans to turn the building into a "boutique hotel."
NORFOLK — Ho-Chunk Capital last month acquired one of the largest buildings in downtown Norfolk and plans to transform it into a luxury hotel.
The National Register of Historic Places-listed Kensington building, located at the northeast corner of West Norfolk Avenue and North Fourth Street in Norfolk, will undergo a more-than $14 million rehabilitation; when complete, it will be a roughly 62-room Marriott.
Dennis Johnson, CEO of Ho-Chunk Capital, said renovations might begin next year and the hotel could be finished sometime in the second half of 2025.
Before construction begins, Ho-Chunk Capital and Marriott will go through a "branding" process, to define and refine the character of the hotel -- "to kind of figure out what kind of unique attributes we want to enhance and retain and keep," Johnson said. Ho-Chunk's in-house architectural firm, BluStone Architecture, will be engaged on the project.
The century-old, five-story, brick, stone and reinforced concrete building -- which was originally a hotel -- had been used as an apartment building since the 1960s. For the past 25 years, it was owned by the Norfolk Housing Agency.
The Norfolk Housing Agency used the building for low-income apartments, but the building was in need of costly upkeep. Last year, the agency put out a request for proposals for new uses for the property. Ho-Chunk Capital, a division of Ho-Chunk Inc. noted for major real estate purchases, submitted a winning proposal and acquired the property for $1.5 million.
"We're kind of bringing it back to its glory days, really, as a hotel," Johnson said.
The former occupants of the Kensington apartments have found new homes and the building is now unoccupied, said City of Norfolk Communications Manager Nick Stevenson.
"It's better than the conditions that they were living in at the Kensington. I mean, you could have someone turn their microwave on in one apartment, and have someone turn their oven on in another one, and the whole breaker would trip," Stevenson said.
Johnson described the building's condition as "fair."
"It was kind of a tired apartment complex, I would call it," he said. "So, this will definitely be a revitalization, an enhancement."
Turning the Kensington into "the premier hotel in town," Johnson said, "will, I think, definitely help downtown Norfolk -- but downtown Norfolk doesn't need a lot of help, I'll be real."
"They have a very vibrant, active downtown environment," he said. "So this will just really plug in very well to that."
The building retains much of its 1920s grandeur -- particularly its elegant lobby, where ornate railings, high ceilings, stonework and antique woodwork survive.
"It's got a really grand entry, actually, and that lobby area, that was retained," Johnson said. "And there's a lot of the original woodwork that is still in that area too that we'll definitely retain and enhance and restore, as much as we can."
The Kensington, originally known as the Hotel Norfolk, was plagued by bankruptcy, lawsuits, deadbeat developers, swelling costs, ruined investors and painfully slow construction in its early years. The North American Hotel Company, an Omaha-based investment group, purchased the parcel in 1917 with the intent of building an eight-story, 134-room hotel there. Enthusiastic Norfolk residents helped bankroll the project by purchasing about $90,000 worth of stock, according to the property's National Register of Historic Places application.
World War I brought the hotel project to a halt and the developer ran into financial problems. By 1919, the site had been excavated, but no further work was being done. Norfolk residents and investors negotiated with the developers and eventually took possession of the property, forming the Norfolk Hotel Company.
The new developers eventually discovered a high water table, natural springs and quicksand that lurked beneath the surface; the basement would require double layers of concrete, and the cost of materials and labor ballooned. Because of the cost overruns, the intended eight-story hotel -- subsequently scaled back to seven stories -- was further whittled down to five stories, according to the NRHP documents.
After a temporary roof was installed in 1921, the ground floor spaces were leased; but progress on the upper floors went slowly, and by 1925, the building was only about three-quarters complete.
In March 1921, one shareholder advertised their holdings in the project -- five shares -- for sale in the Norfolk Daily News. "Best offer takes it," the shareholder wrote.
The Nebraska Volunteer Firemen's Association planned to hold their annual convention in Norfolk in January 1922, but the hotel wasn't nearly finished. "Great disappointment is expressed in local fire department circles over the incompleted condition of the new Norfolk hotel building," the Norfolk Daily News wrote of the situation in November 1921, before the convention.
In 1925, the Norfolk Hotel Company went bankrupt, and the $320,000 that had been invested was wiped out.
Finally, the Omaha hotelier E.C. Eppley acquired the property and finished the project; Eppley was purportedly pleased to have acquired a hotel worth $600,000 for half that price. The hotel had its long-awaited grand opening in the summer of 1926.
"The new hotel will take care of conventions, travelers and tourists and we have the facilities to do so here in Norfolk. I am optimistic about the outcome of the Hotel Norfolk," E.C. Eppley said at a gala reception for the hotel in July 1926, according to a contemporary report in the Norfolk Daily News.
In its later years, the hotel purportedly hosted quite a few famous guests -- the musician Duke Ellington, politicians John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Wendell Willke, Thomas E. Dewey, and the boxer Jack Dempsey all crossed its threshold at one time or another, according to the NRHP application.
Cole Graham (center) and Scott Ryan (right) of Nebraska Sign Company set up the volleyball court at Memorial Stadium ahead of Volleyball Day in Nebraska, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.
Christopher Corbett Jr., 7, examines the cockpit of a T-38 Talon on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023 at the Guardians of Freedom Airshow at Lincoln Airpark.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels leave a smoke trail behind them as they perform aerial feats during the Guardians of Freedom Airshow at Lincoln Air Park on Saturday.
Spectators watch and photograph the U.S. Navy Blue Angels performing aerial feats over Lincoln's Air Park during the Guardians of Freedom Airshow on Saturday.
An F-35C long-range stealth strike fighter flies just under the sound barrier during the Guardians of Freedom Airshow at Lincoln Air Park on Saturday.
Seth Avett, Scott Avett and Joe Kwon play onstage during a performance The Avett Brothers at Pinnacle Bank Arena , on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Lincoln.
Lincoln Lutheran's Ryan Bokelmann holds the Spirit Sword high as he leads his team in celebration after the Warriors defeated Lincoln Christian on Friday at Aldrich Field.
Farrah Plate practices yoga on her paddleboard at Holmes Lake Park on Thursday. Lincoln topped 100 degrees for the fifth day in a row on Friday, when the city's excessive heat warning expired. Relief is forecast on Saturday, where along with a chance of rain, the high is expected to be in the 80s. Those temps are to continue through Wednesday.
Guests at the Duncan Aviation/Make-A-Wish Sixth Annual Charity Car Show walk through rows of cars on display at Duncan Aviation Components and Parts on Sunday near the Lincoln Airport. The event featured airplanes, firetrucks, food trucks and awards for a variety of car categories. Representatives from Duncan presented this year’s Make-A-Wish kid, 3-year-old James, with a trip to the "Cars" Suite at the Art of Animation Resort at Disney World. All event proceeds went to benefit Make-a-Wish Nebraska.
Ta'mircle Washington (left) splashes water on Eliah Kruger as they keep cool at the Bicentennial Cascade Fountain, on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, in Lincoln. Starting on Saturday, the National Weather Service is forecasting five days with triple-digit heat out of the next six. If that proves correct, it will be the longest stretch of 100-degree highs in the city in more than a decade. Lincoln's forecast calls for heat indexes potentially topping 110 degrees on Saturday and Monday.
Cornhusker Marching Band flag line member Alyssa Johnson, who is a reporting intern at the Lincoln Journal Star, twirls with her team during a routine on the field at the annual exhibition concert on Aug. 18, 2023, in Memorial Stadium at University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Lincoln Pius X's Jack Schafers celebrates after he scores a touchdown in the first quarter against Lincoln Northwest on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, at Union Bank Stadium.
Lincoln Lutheran football players join hands in a pre-practice prayer before starting football practice at Lincoln Lutheran High School on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, in Lincoln.
Nova Trumler (left), 3, and Paxton Netsvetayer, 4, play as they build a house at Creative Minds Early Learning Center.
Asa Wegrzyn removes practice gear from a storage container before football practice at Lincoln Christian High School on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, in Lincoln.
Preschooler Vihaan Idara (center) participates in playtime with his teacher and fellow classmates during the first day of the semester on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023 in a new space at Standing Bear High School.
Lincoln Northeast's Landon Hoff (left) takes a handoff from Jacian Brown (right) during football practice Wednesday at Northeast High School.
A hover fly sits a top a black-eyed Susan at the Sunken Gardens.
Bull riders ready themselves for the competition ahead during the Extreme Bull Riding Tour at the Lancaster Event Center on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lincoln.
Cassidy Krawczak-Kummrow pumps her fist in the air after walking across the graduation stage with hre masters degree during UNL's summer semester commencement ceremony at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday.
NATS detasslers work a seed corn field somewhere between Lincoln and Waverly, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023.
Rachel Feldhaus, a 4 year detassler, pulls tassels from corn stalks on the final day of NATS season on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
Lincoln East head coach John Gingery talks tackling with a demonstration with Dash Bauman during a football practice Thursday at Seacrest Field.
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