Tuscaloosa Again OKs New 6-Story Hotel for Downtown Area

The Tuscaloosa City Council has approved the construction of a six-story hotel on now-vacant land downtown, giving the project the green light for the third time since 2020.

As the Thread reported last week when the matter was before a city council committee, the Element Hotel, a Westin product, was first OK'd in the Fall of 2020 for property near the intersection of Jack Warner Parkway and 21st Avenue, which has since been renamed Almon Avenue.

The space is across the street from Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q and behind the brick building that used to house the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

The land sits in the city's Downtown Riverfront Overlay District, though, and when the city council approves projects of this scale, developers only have 12 months to begin construction or their blessing lapses. If they miss the deadline, they have to get approval all over again from the council and its committees.

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The project never got off the ground following the 2020 vote, so developers came back in September 2022 and pitched the Element Hotel again before the Admin committee, the planning and zoning committee and the full council and won approval for the six-story project a second time only for the same scenario to play out.

Last week, the city's Administration and Police Committee considered the hotel again and recommended the full body approve it once more when they hear the matter in a later meeting. On Tuesday night, the city council unanimously approved this third DROD approval.

The plan is fundamentally unchanged from the first two times it came up - the Element will be a six-story hotel with five floors above ground and one basement level. It will contain 101 rooms, a fitness center, an electric vehicle charging station, a bike borrowing program, a bar and a dining area for guests.

The Element extended-stay hotel is one of several new developments planned for the downtown area - the 7-story ALUM Tuscaloosa is meant to be built just up the hill.

For coverage of the council's third vote to OK the project and for more news about restaurant and retail development in west Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.