Vera Bradley Co-Founder Part of Boutique Hotel Plans
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard (pictured left) and Patricia Miller (pictured right) co-founded Vera Bradley
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FORT WAYNE- A co-founder of Fort Wayne-based Vera Bradley Inc. (Nasdaq: VRA) is collaborating with an Oregon hotel company on plans for a new boutique hotel in the city’s downtown. Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Provenance Hotels are currently scoping out locations for a 120-room hotel with dining and meeting space to serve as "a nexus of the community." Greater Fort Wayne Inc. President Eric Doden says the announcement "goes to the heart" of existing talent attraction and retention efforts in the city.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Doden says landing the development "says a lot about what we’ve been experiencing."
The company is slated to take over management of the hotel once it’s built in 2019. Though funding sources have not yet been detailed, Doden says the tools that may be explored include the statewide Regional Cities Initiative, which aims to boost quality of life in regions throughout the state and help them improve upon their global reputation.
Greater Fort Wayne Inc. says the goal of Baekgaard and Provenance is to develop a destination the city can be proud of and "where the community can come together to do business, celebrate life’s special moments and connect on a regular basis."
Provenance Hotels currently runs properties in cities outside of Indiana including Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Nashville and New Orleans. It has addition properties set to open in the next 3-4 years in Seattle; Portland; Madison, Wisconsin; and Hermosa Beach, California.
Baekgaard says "my intention is to create a place that’s unique to Fort Wayne and reflects the pride we have in our city. A place where our community can come together to do business, celebrate life’s special moments and connect on a regular basis – that’s what Provenance Hotels does best. They have a solid track record of success, the unique perspective of being owners themselves and an authentic approach to creating independent hotels that are rooted in the community. I’m confident we are going to create something truly special and worthy of Fort Wayne."
The project is in-line with continuing development efforts in downtown Fort Wayne designed to boost the average wage, population growth rate and GDP over the course of a decade.
You can read more about the hotel by clicking here.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Doden says landing the development “says a lot about what we’ve been experiencing.”