A reader reached out to us the other day, wondering about some ongoing construction near the corner of 10th & Arch. We seemed to remember writing about something in this neck of the woods previously, and wouldn’t you know it, we have! A couple times, as a matter of fact. The first time we mentioned 932 Arch St. was as an aside, in a 2012 story about a different project across the street. At the time, we noted that it was getting a five story addition and that the addition would include 20 new apartments and some office space. We revisited the property in 2014, noting that construction had been frozen at the site, pretty much since our previous story. And we didn’t know what was happening.

We’re checking in on this property again today, still without a full picture of what’s going on. If you find yourself in the area (or if you look at the images that follow), you’ll notice that the property has grown a few more stories since we last wrote about it. Looking at the permits, it appears the developers are adding either three or five more stories (the permits contradict each other), and will eventually convert the building into a hotel with 168 rooms.

This is an unexpected development for a project that hasn’t exactly been following the typical construction path over the last half decade. Given the nature of the project to date, we honestly shouldn’t be surprised. Still, at this point we have no idea why the project was delayed for several years, nor do we know what precipitated the dramatic conceptual shift from residential to hotel. Also, we frankly have no idea how they intend to fit that number of hotel rooms into a building of this size, especially because the walls on each side won’t allow for windows. We always thought that hotel rooms were like bedrooms in apartments and needed to have windows, but we confess we don’t have the requirements for hotel rooms down pat. But hey, given the circuitous path of the project to date, additional changes are probably in store before it’s all said and done.