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A construction boom in the 2010s resulted in a new generation of larger buildings on West Main Street that responded to calls for a more active roadway with places for people to live and visitors to stay.
That included a 10-story hotel with 150 rooms at 1106 W. Main St., which has operated as The Draftsman under Marriott’s Autograph Collection since opening in late September 2018. A Marriott Residence Inn opened at the intersection of West Main Street and Ridge-McIntire Road in March 2016.
Between the two, in the 500 block, is a third hotel that will soon have its third owner in less than 10 years and will be branded as part of a larger hotel chain.
When the owners of Richmond’s Quirk boutique hotel submitted plans in the summer of 2016 for a second location in Charlottesville, the city’s zoning restricted them to a four-story building with an outdoor area on the roof. The Board of Architectural Review had recently indicated they would not approve the demolition of any historic houses along the road.
The Quirk Charlottesville opened in the spring of 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic plunged many industries—including tourism—into their worst years in decades. The sector rebounded and in April 2024, Blue Suede Hospitality LLC purchased the property for $24 million, and rebranded it as The Doyle.
The property will soon change hands once again: Ross Hotel Partners announced a pending acquisition and eventual rebranding.
“We will be embarking on a renovation to convert the hotel into a Hilton Tapestry boutique hotel,” wrote Francis J. “Butch” Ross in an October 2 email obtained by C-VILLE.
So far the City of Charlottesville has not recorded any transactions for the property but the acquisition of The Doyle is listed as pending on the company’s website, as well as three other properties in North Carolina and Georgia. Ross is a veteran hotel developer who has been involved with more than $1.25 million in acquisitions, according to a biography.
Other Tapestry hotels in the state include the Highlander in Radford and Virginia Beach’s The Founders Inn and Spa.
Overnight visits to hotels in the Charlottesville area are down slightly in 2026 compared to recent years, according to data tracked by the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau. Hotels in both localities had an occupancy rate of about 65 percent in June, the lowest rate in four years.
The newest hotel in the area is the 214-room Virginia Guesthouse, a mile and a half to the west of The Doyle in UVA’s Emmet-Ivy Corridor.
The area will lose another legacy hotel as Brick Lane Properties follows through with plans to convert the Holiday Inn on Emmet Street into a 191-unit apartment building with 133 income-restricted units.
Another stalled hotel project is at the site of the former Excel Inn at 140 Emmet St. That structure was rendered uninhabitable by a fire in May 2017. The owners persuaded City Council to approve a special use permit in October 2018 for the seven-story 72-room Gallery Court Hotel, but the project has not yet moved forward. The remnants of the motel were demolished in the spring of 2023 and the site is now being used for construction staging.
