CityFlatsHotel adds second event location to its brand

In the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, CityFlatsHotel is adding another event space at the former Louis Benton Steakhouse at 77 Monroe Center St. NW near its existing Ballroom @ CityFlatsHotel. 

"Since we opened the ballroom in 2012, we’ve had tremendous success and really positive feedback," says Jack Peaphone, Marketing Coordinator. "We have our guests booked well in advance. There are only so many days people are looking to book space and we really hated having to turn people away, so when the space became available, we jumped on the chance to add more rooms so we can kind of continue that success and able to provide more guests with more rooms." 

The new space will be a 13,000-square-foot space with a larger room for events and two smaller meeting spaces intended for about 20 people each. 

Although it's difficult to design the interior of Events @CityFlatsHotel with the same historic feel as the Ballroom @CityFlatsHotel, the former Michigan National Bank located next to its main hotel building at 83 Monroe Ave. NW, Peaphone says the new digs will be consistent with the rest of the CityFlatsHotel brand. 

"The ballroom definitely has its own look and feel. We renovated that from a 1920-1930’s era bank, so we obviously can’t replicate that look," he says. "However, we’ll still have full-service catering available for all of the new rooms and all of the same audio-visual equipment - we'll just have more to offer our clients by way of how many bookings we can fit." 

The boutique hotel has also announced the addition of a new "blowdry bar", which will be staffed with trained hairstylists under the CityFlats brand and offer blowout and salon services to both guests and residents in the area. 

"We’re still working on the design of that, but we’ll basically have a blow-dry bar; you’ll be able to get blowouts, but other salon services will also be available," Peaphone says. "We’ll have make-up and lashes and we’ll also do cuts and colors, as well as manicures."

He says there are no concrete numbers on how many jobs the two new spaces will create quite yet, but knows they will be hiring for numerous open positions within both the salon and the event space. In the meantime, CityFlatsHotel is working with its parent company Charter House Innovations to begin renovations on the former Louis Benton Steakhouse, with the expansion slated for completion this summer. 

We think it’s a great option for the downtown area because of how centrally located we are," Peaphone says. "Not only will it be great for guests of the hotel who are there for events to be able to get services at the blow-dry bar or take over some of our meeting space, but also really the walkability of the location. It’s great for anyone living or working downtown or working, to be able to get appointments and come in and get these services."

Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of CityFlatsHotel

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