A hotel project set to begin construction spring of 2024 will transform downtown Brookings and give new life to the historic Armory Building on main street.

The Armory, built in 1937 in downtown Brookings, has been a gathering space for decades and is also on the National Register of Historic Places. Community Development Director Mike Struck says the City of Brookings was looking for an opportunity for redevelopment to make better utilization of the space.

When the opportunity of redevelopment came, the City of Brookings selected Linchpin Development Company to move forward with the project. Struck says redevelopment is an opportunity to save a historic building.

Linchpin proposed to renovate The Armory to create an event space for weddings, corporate events, and conferences with dinner-style seating up to approximately 400 people. The basement of the Armory will be converted into The Foxtrot Restaurant Bar and Lounge which will seat about 120 people.

Linchpin also proposed a hotel to be built with 73 rooms, a fitness center, and a business center. The fourth floor of the hotel will have small event spaces named Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and a cocktail lounge named The Delta. The Delta will seat 80 people with 20 seats on a rooftop patio.

At this time, the city’s commitment to the project is approximately $130,000. This project won’t cost taxpayers, but it will cause a disruption. Struck says it will be an inconvenience during construction because there will be short periods of time that portions of the street will be closed during construction.

Struck says the proposed street/streets to be temporarily closed for utility work will be 3^rd Street and potentially Front Street. It will not be the entire portion of 3^rd Street, however the south side of the street that is adjacent to where the hotel is to be constructed.

Struck also says that during these times of inconvenience, there will be some limited parking on the streets because of staging and construction safe zones and fault zones. Struck says the city will try to keep these times as brief as possible but it could be a week or two.

Businesses adjacent to the construction site will be impacted but will not need to be closed. The businesses impacted will be those along 3^rd Street between Main Avenue and 3^rd Avenue. These businesses will still be open for business, it will just cause an inconvenience at times as on-street parking may become limited.

Kool Beans Coffee and Roasterie is located directly next to The Armory. Owner Kurt Osborn is very excited for this addition.

Osborn says “From our perspective, the prospect of a downtown hotel with a convention center, retail and office space presents many exciting possibilities and lots of potential to collaborate and share in the activities, events and hosting of guests who will frequent this facility. This project will be a wonderful asset to Downtown and to the Brookings community as well. Being next door to the hustle and bustle this facility will create will be a terrific opportunity to showcase the oldest building on Main Avenue where we share space with Mosaic Wine Bar and Small Plates. We look forward to the completion of this project and the many possibilities to complement their events, activities and space.”

City Council member Andrew Rasmussen says this is “Really exciting, especially for the downtown area.” Rasmussen says the City of Brookings is looking at continuing the growth and economic development of the town, “So utilizing that space in a way that is really going to benefit the downtown area and the greater community will be good.”

Struck says that the city is constantly evolving and is trying to enhance the downtown area to create more vibrancy, engaging people and bringing them downtown. The hotel project is “just good for the community.” said Struck.