New hotel planned next to Embassy Suites at Coldstream Research Park

The owners of the Embassy Suites hotel at Coldstream Research Park are planning to build another hotel next door.

The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees approved a ground lease Friday between UK, which owns Coldstream, and Lexington Suite Hotel LLC, which owns the Embassy Suites hotel that opened there in 1999, off Newtown Pike near the I-64 and I-75 interchange.

The second hotel would have about 130 rooms in 77,000 square feet. The current hotel serves numerous Lexington events, especially those held a few miles away at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“This is within the interest of Coldstream,” said Eric Monday, UK vice president for finance and administration. “We have a need for a second hotel.”

In other UK news, the board accepted a $1 million donation from the Louisville-based James Brown Graham Foundation toward the UK Leveraging Economic Affordability for Developing Success (UK LEADS) initiative. The program was created last year to give more need-based student aid to improve student retention and graduation rates.

The board also approved the appointment of UK HealthCare chief Mark Newman, who will replace Michael Karpf. They also approved the new dean of the Lewis Honors College, Christian Brady, and the new dean of the College of Fine Arts, Mark Shanda.

This story was originally published September 15, 2017 at 3:06 PM with the headline "New hotel planned next to Embassy Suites at Coldstream Research Park."