San Antonio: Hotel Emma rising as jewel of the Pearl

SAN ANTONIO – Hotel Emma, the 146-room hotel set inside the historic Pearl brewery, will be one of the few hotels overlooking the northern part of the River Walk. It is set to open spring 2015.

In 2002, Silver Ventures acquired the 22-acre site that is the Pearl Brewing Co. The company built a separate tower to accompany the original building.

In all, the hotel will span 160,000 sf over seven floors. About 60 percent of the hotel is in the original building, and the other 40 percent is in the newly built tower.

The hotel has a 3,000-sf lobby that includes a restaurant, a market with prepared meals and a library where guests and locals can enjoy books. There is also 8,000 sf of meeting space and a 3,200-sf ballroom for events.

The hotel will be managed by Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, who is set to be purchased by InterContinental Hotels Group for $430 million.

InterContinental will take over Kimpton’s 62 hotels and 71 hotel-based destination restaurants, bars and lounges.

Over the past 12 years, the 22-acre Pearl Brewery site has been slowly revitalized into a planned community of sleek apartments, enviable eateries, industrial office spaces and historic venues.

Hotel Emma is one of the last pieces of the puzzle.

For more information on InterContinental’s purchase of Kimpton, see the San Antonio Business Journal.