New 21c Museum Hotel to Open in Cincinnati, Ohio
Project is Part of Continuing Revitalization of City's Downtown

21c Museum Hotel in Louisville Recently Voted #1 Hotel in U.S. and #6 in the World in in Condé Nast Traveler's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards

LOUISVILLE, KY (November 4, 2009) — Building on its mission of engaging the public with contemporary art and supporting the revitalization of American downtowns, 21c Museum Hotels will renovate and restore the former Metropole Hotel—a historic landmark in downtown Cincinnati—to its original purpose as a hotel and a centerpiece of the city. 21c Museum Hotels was launched in 2006 by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, philanthropists and arts patrons who had a vision for bringing contemporary art to new audiences. 21c Museum Hotel, in Louisville, Kentucky was recently selected as the #1 hotel in the United States and #6 hotel in the world in the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards for 2009.

The new 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati will be located adjacent to the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and across the street from the Aronoff Center for the Arts and will help foster the ongoing revival of the city and strengthen its role as a cultural destination. 21c Museum Hotels is working with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation on the restoration, which is scheduled to begin next fall. Total cost for the project is expected to be $48 million.

In addition to presenting a full range of changing special exhibitions and arts programming, 21c Museum Hotel features Proof, an award-winning restaurant that supports sustainable agriculture and serves contemporary cuisine made from locally grown ingredients. The Cincinnati facility will feature 160 rooms, a contemporary art museum with more than 8,000 square feet of exhibition space open to the public free of charge, a Proof restaurant and bar, and meeting spaces. The 21c team will restore the Metropole building, recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, following federal standards for historic rehabilitation.

The first 21c Museum Hotel—located in Louisville's West Main Street Historic District—plays a key role in the life of the city and has helped to further raise national recognition for Louisville's arts and theater district. The live events, exhibitions, installations and arts programming at 21c Museum Hotel are accessible to the public, whether they are members of the Louisville community, travelers to the region, guests at the hotel, or are stopping by for a meal or a cocktail at the Proof on Main restaurant and bar.

"Based on the success of 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, we realized we had the opportunity to enliven the cultural and civic life in urban centers across the country," said Steve Wilson, Founder and Chairman of 21c Museum Hotels. "21c Museum Hotel in Louisville is the touchstone of this philosophy. We are a catalyst for art and civic programming and the response from the public has been tremendous. We're very excited about the opportunity to bring a 21c Museum Hotel to Cincinnati and look forward to being part of the downtown revitalization being led by 3CDC."

Since opening in 2006, 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville has received local and national acclaim for its innovative concept and strong execution. Michael Bonadies, President and CEO of 21c Museum Hotels, feels that the company is well-positioned for growth. "In the past few years, we have exceeded all business expectations and proven that art truly can drive commerce. Our team is excited to take this model to new markets and look forward to enhancing the cultural life of the community for residents and visitors alike."

"Surrounded by the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and the Aronoff Center, the Metropole is located in the center of the downtown Cincinnati arts district," said Richard Rosenthal, an emeritus trustee of the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. "This historic building is a cornerstone of the city waiting for an organization of the caliber of 21c to restore it to its original grandeur. 21c Museum Hotel will bring local residents and visitors downtown and provide a major boost for Cincinnati's reputation as a destination for the arts."

Art at 21c Museum Hotel

21c Museum Hotel presents a range of arts programming, including special and traveling exhibitions curated by Director William Morrow—as well as by cultural organizations across the country—and exhibits works of art commissioned especially for permanent installation on site. More than twenty special exhibitions and installations have been presented since the opening of 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville in 2006; there is no charge to visit the museum and exhibitions. The organization also loans works of art to major museums—among them MASS MoCA, the Contemporary Art Museum Houston, and the National Gallery of Ontario—and collaborates on arts initiatives with artists and cultural organizations world-wide.

The exhibitions and installations of 21c Museum Hotel are woven into the fabric of the building and the surrounding streetscape, with works of art filtering into both public space and unexpected places. There is no demarcation between exhibition space and the other public spaces of 21c Museum Hotel. Works of art appear in elevators, sunken courtyards, hallways, the Proof restaurant and bar, public restrooms, and on the floor, windowpanes, roof, and city sidewalk. The 21c Museum Hotel features permanent installations and exhibitions of works by both emerging and recognized artists, including Bill Viola, Tony Oursler, Andres Serrano, Sam Taylor-Wood, David Levinthal, Yinka Shonibare, Judy Fox, Chuck Close, Alfredo Jaar, and Kara Walker.

Architecture

The 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville is designed by Deborah Berke & Partners Architects, who is also serving as design architect for the Cincinnati project. The Louisville hotel structure combines five 19th-century tobacco and bourbon warehouses to create a four story facility that houses the 21c Museum and the Proof on Main restaurant and bar on its ground floor, as well as 90 hotel rooms on its upper stories. For 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati, Berke will be collaborating with Alan Weiskopf of Perfido Weiskopf Wagstaff + Goettel, a firm noted for their significant experience in historic preservation projects, who will serve as executive architect.

Berke's other projects include projects for the James Hotels in Chicago and Scottsdale, the Yale School of Art & New Theater, and the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. Berke was named an "Emerging Voice" by the Architecture League of New York in 1993, and her residential project, Baron Loft, won an AIA New York Chapter Design Award in 2001. She was a finalist for the 2008 National Design Award for Interior Design. The award is given by the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt Museum for exceptional and exemplary work in domestic, corporate, cultural, or interior design.

21c Museum Hotels Team

In addition to Brown and Wilson, the other principals of 21c Museum Hotels include President and CEO Michael Bonadies, Vice Chair Craig Greenberg, Vice President and COO Chett Abramson, and Vice President Sarah Robbins. Before joining 21c Museum Hotels, Bonadies, Abramson, and Robbins were formerly of the Myriad Restaurant Group. Myriad built a national reputation for innovative food and dining with such acclaimed restaurants as Nobu, Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, and Rubicon.

3CDC

The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) is a private, non-profit corporation. Its mission is to revitalize Cincinnati's Center City as a regional center of high value employment and real estate by developing a diverse mix of housing, culture and entertainment. It was formed in July 2003 as part of the overall system to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of development activities in the City as recommended by The Cincinnati Economic Development Task Force. 3CDC is funded privately through business contributions, foundations and other philanthropic sources. For more information, visit www.3cdc.org.