UPDATED: Boutique Hotel Could be Coming to Wyandotte

A luxurious hotel with up to 33 rooms could be coming to downtown Wyandotte.

City officials are studying a plan that calls for a boutique hotel moving into at the corner of Biddle and Maple.

At Monday night's City Council meeting, officials plan to consider changing a city ordinance that requires hotels and motels to provide parking for its guests. The current ordinance stipulates that hotels and motels with 15 or more rooms must supply parking. Officials are set to lessen that requirement and only force establishments with 34 or more rooms to provide parking.

City Administrator Todd Drysdale acknowledged that the proposed change is in direct correlation to the plans for a hotel moving into the Sears site.

"We certainly want to attract a use like a boutique hotel and there is a potential for one moving in with more than 15 rooms," Drysdale said. "So we want to relax our ordinance to make it attractive to the developer. ... If you don't, you’re either going to get a smaller project or not a project at all."

Drysdale said he doesn't foresee a downtown parking problem if a hotel is built. But you might have to walk a ways to get to your destination.

"Believe it or not, there is not a parking shortage in Wyandotte," he said. "There is a convenient parking shortage. … No matter how many consultants we bring in, no one determines we have a parking shortage here."

If council members approve the change Monday night, the matter will be referred to the city's Planning Commission, which must hold a public hearing on the issue before any changes can be made.

purchased the Sears Building for $500,000 earlier this year. The building, which has three floors and a mezzanine, had sat vacant for a decade.

DDA Director Natalie Rankine said the proposed developers are set to attend the Sept. 17 council meeting. Until then, she said, she's hesitant to release any details on the proposed project.

"We've developed a long relationship with these people," she said. "Their other hotels are beautiful. ... This will be great for Wyandotte."