Life House revealed plans for its first location in the Southeast. Effective immediately, the New York-based brand will take over operations of the 132-room Chattanooga (Tenn.) Choo Choo Hotel, with a comprehensive renovation slated for the fall and a full relaunch scheduled for spring 2021.
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Chattanooga Choo Choo and Terminal Station has pivoted to be a multifaceted property over the last four years. The location now features two music venues, a comedy club, numerous restaurants and several other businesses. The property also includes more than 500 residential units.
“The final piece of redevelopment for the property is the hotel, and we had to make sure our efforts aligned with the numerous tenants that we have curated, the walkable and active Southside neighborhood and the desires of current and future guests,” Adam Kinsey, Chattanooga Choo Choo president, said in a statement. “We have given a lot of thought on the right partner and as we discovered, met with and saw first-hand what Life House has been able to produce in such a quick timeline since their launch, we knew we had found the right folks to bring a new boutique hotel experience to Chattanooga."
Life House plans to have more than 10 hotels in the Southeast by year-end 2021. Bryan Dunn, head of growth at Life House, said target markets include Atlanta; Asheville, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; Charleston, S.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Greensboro, N.C.; Durham, N.C.; Nashville; and Savannah, Ga.; among others.
Founded in 2017, Life House is a venture-backed, vertically integrated hotel brand, management and software company. It recently closed on a $30 million Series B fundraising round led by Thayer Ventures with participation from Tiger Global, JLL Spark and Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures.