Historic Topeka Buildings To Become Boutique Hotel

Topeka, Kan.—Plans to transform four historic buildings in downtown Topeka into a 79 room boutique hotel and restaurant are underway. Cyrus Hotel and Holliday’s Public House will occupy the four existing historic structures of 912, 916, 918 and 920 Kansas Avenue along with an additional five story tower. The venue features over 10,000 square feet of event and meeting space with full catering services.

Located just one block from the Capitol Building on the recently redesigned and greenscaped Kansas Avenue, the hotel and restaurant honor Topeka’s founder, Cyrus K. Holliday.  In an 1854 letter to his wife, Holliday described the area as “perhaps the best landing and the most eligible site for a city in the entire country”.

“In a way, a new vision for Topeka is taking place, an updated, modern version of Cyrus K. Holliday’s original vision — a brilliant destiny is awaiting our town,” said Cody Foster,  Cyrus Hotel Project Developer and Topeka businessman. “I believe in this city, and more importantly, I believe in the people in and around this city.  I’m excited about the direction we are headed and enjoy playing a small role in Topeka’s growth.”

Foster partnered with Plainville, Kan. businessman Chuck Comeau. Comeau is the founder of Liberty Group, an urban renewal development company whose focus is downtown redevelopment and the renovation of historic buildings. Foster and Comeau share a love for their home state of Kansas, an appreciation for the communities that gave their businesses a home base of operations, a desire to see the downtowns of their local communities flourish and the ability to catapult the existing efforts of these communities forward exponentially to revitalize their historic downtowns.

Foster and Comeau worked with Lake Flato, one of the world’s leading architectural firms based in San Antonio, Tex., to develop plans for the hotel. To bring plans of the Cyrus Hotel and Holliday Public House to fruition, Architect One and McPherson Contractors will be in charge of turning these properties into the most unique hotel property in the Midwest.

The project team also includes David Bowd, founder of Salt Hotels of New York and former chief operating officer for Ian Schrager Hotels and Andre Balazs Hotels of New York, Los Angeles and London, to head up the Cyrus Hotel’s operations.

“I see the Cyrus Hotel Topeka as the gateway for visitors into Topeka. We are a major part of their impression of the city and local neighborhood. We will operate this hotel to very high standards and provide a wonderful personal level of service to all of our guests,’ said Bowd.

For more information on the Cyrus Hotel and Holliday’s Public House, visit http://www.CyrusHotel.com.

Salt Hotels

David Bowd has over 29 years of experience in the hospitality industry having worked in numerous hotels in the United Kingdom, Australia and, for the past seven years at the corporate level in the U.S. Bowd is now making his own imprimatur on the industry, as Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Salt Hotels, a burgeoning collection of boutique properties that redefine the concept of a classic bed and breakfast with a fresh, contemporary approach.

Bowd’s Salt House Inn was named to Condé Nast Traveler’s Hot List 2014,” included in Travel + Leisure’s Annual compendium “The World’s Greatest Hotels 2014,” and honored with a Boston Magazine “Best of Boston” award for Best New Inn 2013. Salt House Inn is now the flagship for the Salt Hotels brand, which currently operates three properties in the U.S. in addition to management consultant services and has a healthy pipeline of development.

Bowd started his ground-up career holding various positions for hospitality giants, Hilton and Marriott in his native U.K. before taking his first General Manager position in 2001 for Thistle Hotels. Three years later, Bowd was recruited by then Ian Schrager Hotels as General Manager of St Martins Lane in London. Quickly thereafter in 2004, Bowd was promoted to Regional Vice President for Europe overseeing both Sanderson and St Martins Lane where he successfully worked on repositioning Sanderson as a market leader. In just two years the hotel was voted “2006 hippest hotel in Europe” by TripAdvisor readers and travel experts, while Travel Weekly pronounced it the fourth coolest UK brand.

Bowd’s successful work in London led to his promotion to Senior Vice President of Operations at the corporate offices in New York. In this position he oversaw the day-to-day operations for eleven Morgans Hotel Group properties comprised of 3073 rooms. In 2009, Bowd assumed the role of Managing Director at The Ian Schrager Company. Working directly with Ian, Bowd developed the operational structure for two new brand concepts and oversaw the sale and handover of the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York.

Most recently Bowd was the Chief Operating Officer for Andre Balazs Properties, a position he held since 2011. Aside from directly supporting the company’s founder Andre Balazs, he oversaw the management of nine uniquely positioned hotels including the Standard brand and the iconic Mercer in New York, Chateau Marmont in Hollywood and recently opened the highly acclaimed Firehouse in London.