Lexington Hyatt to get $58.5 million face lift. Here’s a sneak peek of new design
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- Lexington Hyatt launches $58.5M renovation; room work starts summer 2026.
- Project includes lobby reconfiguration, marketplace, bar, and pool cover.
- State approved up to $3.996M in tourism tax incentives over ten years.
The downtown Hyatt is undergoing a nearly $60 million facelift and renovation.
Nick Giacobbi of Procaccianti Companies and TPG Hotels & Resorts told the Lexington Center Corporation during a Nov. 20 board meeting renovations on the rooms of the hotel will begin in the summer of 2026 with scheduled completion in September.
Renovations have already begun on many internal and mechanical components that guests don’t see, Giacobbi said.
“We typically do three floors at a time,” Giacobbi said. That’s so the hotel can still operate and book guests during renovations.
The timeline to start construction in the lobby is still in flux, Giacobbi said during the Nov 20. board meeting. Lexington Center Corp., which oversees Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena, owns the building and leases the property to Procaccianti Companies.
The reconfigured lobby will move the bar, which is currently to the right of the main entrance, toward the South Broadway side of the building, allowing for more people to move through the lobby. The lobby bar can get packed during University of Kentucky men’s basketball games, making the lobby space tricky to navigate, Procaccianti officials said.
The new configuration will also allow for a new marketplace for snacks in the lobby as well as a reconfigured restaurant space, said David Ashen of Saguez and Dash Design, the design firm hired by Procaccianti to oversee the renovation.
The new eating and bar area will also have a fabric roof that will help with acoustics in the lobby, Ashen said.
The plans also call for covering the indoor pool and turning it into an expanded fitness center. The current fitness center is small and cramped, Giacobbi said.
“We are going for a timeless color palette,” Ashen said of the new color schemes in the lobby and the rooms.
The front entrance will also get more lighting and new design features, the plans show.
Tax incentives for renovations approved by KY officials
The 17-story, 360-plus-room hotel at 401 W. High St. is nearly 50 years old. It has undergone several previous, multimillion-dollar renovations.
The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority gave final approval Nov. 19 for tourism tax incentives for the $58.5 million renovation. The total incentives the project can receive over ten years can not exceed $3,996,000, according to Kentucky finance authority documents.
The group received initial state approval for the incentives in May.
Construction of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington at the corner of High Street and Broadway started in 1975 as part of the Lexington Center, which included the convention-exposition hall, Rupp Arena, a shopping mall and the 17-story hotel.
The Hyatt opened in 1977.
In 2010, the hotel finished a multi-phase, $17.5 million renovation that started in 2007.
Central Bank Center completed a $320 million overhaul and expansion of the convention center in 2022.
Another key component of the revamped Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena entertainment district was the privately-funded public Gatton Park on Town Branch, which opened in August.
A new, multi-use development on the High Street parking lot across from the Hyatt and Central Bank Center will include apartments, hotels and a grocery store. Construction on that long-awaited development will begin in late 2026, developers of the project said last week.
