Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – Two new hotels are planned for midtown Gulf Shores including a revamping of the Kaiser building to turn it into a boutique hotel called Aqua Suites.

“Aqua Suites will be an independent luxury boutique hotel located in Gulf Shores,” Executive Assistant Katy Young with Wealth Hospitality said. This will be an upscale hotel marketed towards couples for honeymoons, anniversaries, romantic getaways. There will be 48 suites designed for relaxation.”

Each room will come with access to a water feature either directly from first-floor rooms or in each of the suites on the higher floors.

“The ground-floor suites that face the pool will include individual plunge pools,” Young said. “All other guest rooms will have some sort of patio feature, such as a hot tub or soaking tub.”

Wealth Hospitality owns about 65 hotel properties including Alabama – one in Mobile and a second in Mobile in development – Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas and Oregon.

“We developed, own, & operate the Tru by Hilton in Mobile in McGowin Park,” Young said. “We have plans to build a Candlewood Suites in Mobile in McGowin Park - we will be breaking ground later this year. The smallest hotel we own is the Pine Ridge Inn in Bend, Oregon. There are 20 suites and rooms. One larger hotel we have planned is the Embassy Suites in Southaven, Mississippe. This will be a conference center hotel and will be connected to the Landers Center Expansion via a covered walkway.”

Young said Wealth Hospitality plans to start renovations on the Kaiser Building in March with a target opening date of spring of 2024.

Adjacent to the Kaiser Building location, city council heard a request for a change in the Midtown Gulf Shores planned unit development to add another hotel.

“The PUD was designed and approved as a nine-lot mixed use, pedestrian-oriented commercial project with professional office, retail, restaurant and residential uses,” a staff memo on the Jan. 9 agenda states. “The entire infrastructure for the PUD has been constructed, including parking drive aisles, pedestrian sidewalks, stormwater drainage, lighting, dumpster pads and screening, and landscaping.”

The request is to remove one of the buildings on the site and the mobile vendor court to build a 100-room hotel. At its November meeting, the planning commission gave a 9-0 favorable recommendation for the proposed changes.

There are more than 17,000 vacation rental properties on the Alabama Gulf Coast between condos, beach houses and hotels. There are a total of 2,473 hotel rooms in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and none in Fort Morgan.