Share this Post
New boutique stays riding Raleigh’s hotel wave
Downtown Raleigh’s hotel game is leveling up. Enter Raleigh hospitality titan Souheil Al-awar’s yet-to-be-named boutique Blount Street hotel, breaking ground this spring and set to debut about a year and a half thereafter. Approved by City Council last summer, the project will boast ~90 boutique rooms across ~seven stories—plus a local-leaning ground-floor restaurant and rooftop restaurant and bar.
Alongside recent arrivals like Hyatt House Seaboard Station and Tempo by Hilton Raleigh Downtown Hotel, Raleigh’s hotel boom shows no signs of slowing. The Omni Raleigh Hotel is slated for a 2028 opening, while the iconic round Holiday Inn reno gears up on Hillsborough Street—never mind The Longleaf Hotel and Guest House’s Michelin recognition.
“I hear people dismissing Downtown like it’s kind of done,” says the local developer, architect, and Clockwork + The Saint townhomes owner. “That’s such a wrong statement to me because you can never get the feeling of a downtown anywhere else.”
Bookending DTR opposite Longleaf on the northern end, the hotel’s first three stories will match the height of adjacent Prince Hall Masonic Lodge—with much of its facade echoing the hall’s signature red brick.
Beyond the edifice, “I want to give it an interior and a feel that is really original,” he adds. “A lot of hotels are becoming very generic—if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to many. So you have to also give it that feel of hominess—like you’re home when you get there.”
Rooted in Raleigh’s storied history while taking cues from distinctive downtowns like Charleston, the project promises a blend of authenticity and modern flair, reflecting a contemporary European aesthetic that will “thoughtfully integrate the character and history of the Prince Hall neighborhood,” muses Al-awar.
For the F&B-, design- and architecture-minded Al-awar, it’s another “very Raleigh” concept—one that adds a fresh chapter to a historic pocket of DTR. “I really want to do something very specific and very Raleigh at the same time,” he states—“make a splash, make it a destination.”
And there’s no doubt it will. The boutique stay is poised to draw both out-of-towners and locals back into the heart of the city. So, time to check into Raleigh’s next chapter.
“I want to lure people to come into Raleigh—and hospitality would be very important for that. I think Downtown will definitely come back and will come back strong. And I really want to be there for it when it happens.” —SOUHEIL AL-AWAR
Related Articles
Share this Post