Celebrity chef putting his stamp on boutique hotel that opens next week
Besides welcoming tourists, a new hotel opening next week in downtown Las Vegas hopes to become a locals hangout as well.
The English Hotel is a 74-room, nongaming boutique property built from the ground up in the Arts District.
It’s a Zlife Co. development project — a California-based firm run by Weina Zhang and Anna Olin — but celebrity chef and restauranteur Todd English is the face of the property.
English’s Pepper Club — a Japanese and Mediterranean concept — is the cornerstone restaurant for the hotel.
“I think a lot of locals will want to go here,” said English, who lives in Las Vegas. “This area kind of has an edge. You’re not in the burbs when you come down here. I spent a lot of years in New York and I look at Brooklyn the same way.”
Being in the heart of the quirky and colorful Arts District is precisely where the four-story English Hotel belongs, Olin said.
Olin described the hotel, which opens Wednesday, as “more personable” than the stereotypical “over-the-top” Strip resort. The target market for the hotel is what she calls the “cultured renegade.”
“These aren’t the people going to the Strip trying to relive ‘The Hangover’ movie,” Olin said. “It’s also not the people looking at penny slots on Fremont Street. This is for people looking for a more unique, more authentic experience in Las Vegas. Tourists can come here and live Vegas like a local.”
The hotel is affiliated with Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio and will be managed by Sightline Hospitality, a San Francisco company.
Nearly a dozen ground-floor specialty suites lead directly to an intimate pool area.
“This is so exciting because it’s the first ever ground-up boutique hotel built in the Arts District,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The developers first applied for a building permit with the city in late 2018. The cost for the project was north of $30 million.
The Trident Construction Corp., a Las Vegas firm, served as the general contractor.
Trident and Zlife are also working together on a possible new apartment project just steps from the English Hotel, Zhang said.
“There’s a lot of potential here in the Arts District and a lot of room for redevelopment,” said Jim Donofrio Jr., Trident’s owner and president. “We want to be part of that. This area is growing, and will continue to grow for a while.”