Yellow Springs hotel to open in heart of village

Restaurant, conference room part of development.

A multi-million dollar hotel opening in the heart of Yellow Springs on Monday will benefit the village and the region, supporters said.

Mills Park Hotel, a $5 million to $6 million project, is a three-story hotel with 24,000 square feet of space, according to Jim Hammond, a co-owner.

The hotel, 321 Xenia Ave. near Limestone Street, will be the largest lodging facility in the village. It will include 28 guest rooms and extended-stay suites, an exercise facility, a conference room and a banquet room that can hold up to 150 people, a restaurant and a small retail store.

“If it wasn’t for the property, we wouldn’t have done it,” Hammond said. “It’s a large property right downtown Yellow Springs, and it just made a lot of sense. Yellow Springs needed lodging and meeting space and another restaurant.”

Mills Park Hotel is expected to have tremendous impact on the village, said Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karen Wintrow.

“We haven’t had a very large place for people to stay,” she said. “It’s not just about tourism … It gives our business community to have a beautiful location for their board members, their employees and visiting folks a place to stay.”

The building exterior was inspired by a house owned by Yellow Springs founder William Mills.

“For the inside, we took a lot of ideas from historic hotels around the country … It has a little southern influence,” he said.

Hammond said the room prices are mid-range, but overall it will feel like an expensive hotel.

“We’re doing all we can to keep the price low so everyone can enjoy it, but it’s going to be a pretty high-end experience,” he said.

Room rates, standard up to deluxe balcony suites will, will range between $120 and $190.

The hotel also offers a way to increase the local economy because large groups of overnight visitors can shop at local businesses instead of driving to another community.

“Clearly it offers something we don’t have for our visitors … we’ve just never had an opportunity for a large group to be able to stay in one location,” Wintrow said.

The hotel is also expected to attract bicyclists on the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail — the longest trail within the Miami Valley Trail network, said Kathleen Wright, the Greene County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The hotel will open during a time when tourism in Greene County is expected to increase, Wright said.

The presidential debate is expected to increase tourism along with other annual events hosted with the county that are expected to grow.

“I foresee 2016 being really really good,” she said.

The Hammond family will operate the hotel. His wife, Libby, will assist with general management of the hotel while their daughter, Katie, will manage the restaurant.

Hammond purchased the property in 2012 and planned open in June, 2015. However, the opening was delayed because of building code issues.

“It’s been a long, drawn-out process,” he said. “We just want to get it open and start serving guests.”

About the Author