The Broadway Begins Planning for Second Tower

Another addition to the District has been announced, and it will be bringing bigger groups to Columbia.

The Broadway hotel is in the preliminary planning process of building a second tower that will add 82 new guest rooms along with an additional 7,800 square feet of meeting space that includes a large ballroom, which will be on the top floor, overlooking downtown Columbia.

The tower would be built on the site immediately north of the current hotel, at 1104 East Walnut. The two towers will be connected by elevated bridgeways over the existing alley. The second tower would be eight stories and approximately 72,400 square feet.

Owner Dave Parmley says the hotel has a beginning estimate around $17 million for total development costs. The land is not yet owned by The Broadway, but the hotel has leased the property for the past four years and is now under a contract to purchase, with a closing date early next year.

The current hotel has 114 guest rooms and approximately 3,000 square feet of meeting space. The new ballroom would accommodate 320 to 350 people in banquet-style seating or 500 to 600 people in theatre-style seating. Parmley says that the ballroom should be an ideal venue for weddings or corporate and association meetings. “We think the new tower would allow us to draw much larger meetings and groups to downtown Columbia and that those bigger meetings would require more guest rooms for their out-of-town attendees,” Parmley says.