Butler’s historic Ross Hall becomes part of the Curio Collection by Hilton
Butler University announces that a Hilton boutique hotel will be built in the former Ross Hall dormitory on campus.
IndyStar
Butler University’s oldest dormitory is set to be converted into a boutique hotel after developers intervened to save the building from demolition.
The hotel, part of the Curio Collection by Hilton, will be Butler’s first on-campus hotel and will house 105 luxury rooms, a signature restaurant and meeting space in the 70-year-old former dorm. University President James Danko said the hotel’s design will blend with the existing structure of Ross Hall, including the building’s facade and interior details such as ceiling beams.
Scheduled to open in the 2026-2027 academic year, the hotel is designed to address the shortage of accommodations near campus and make visiting the university a new experience, Danko said. Many visitors stay miles away from campus during graduation and move-in weekends, Danko said.
“There’s no hotel near us,” Danko said. “So this will be a really nice hotel that also happens to be on the Butler campus.”
The signature restaurant will offer fine dining, Danko said. Designers wanted to create a space that could serve as a cafe in the morning and a luxury restaurant in the evening.
The developers hope to begin construction in the spring. Before construction can begin, the city must approve the rezoning of the site.
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Ross Hall, once home to Butler’s freshmen students, closed as a residence hall in 2019 when the university built a series of new dorms and chose not to renovate the aging building. During the pandemic, the building briefly reopened as housing and served as an isolation building for students.
From demolition to new hotel
In the summer of 2023, Butler leaders sent a message to alumni saying Ross Hall was to be demolished. Passionate Ross Hall alumni were quick to respond, lamenting the impending loss of what many students called their first home on campus.
Hotel development firm Purpose Lodging also took notice and asked Butler to tour Ross Hall and imagine what the building could become. The company scouts out unused historic buildings that can be converted into boutique hotels.
“I think they saw more than we did, which was an old, classic dorm with no air conditioning,” Danko said. “The more we talked to the group, the more they were excited about the idea of going to the Hilton because of the Curio Collection, which focuses on unique properties that are usually in some sort of community.”
Three months later, the company helped the university connect with Hilton, Danko said.
Alabama-based Purpose Lodging will serve as developer and operator of the hotel, the Curio Collection’s first hotel in Indiana and the first on a university campus.
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Butler will lease Ross Hall and the surrounding area to Purpose Lodging under the agreement. Gettys Group, a Chicago-based hospitality company, will design the project. A contract with a construction company has not yet been finalized.
The total cost of the hotel project is still unclear, but Danko estimates renovations alone will cost $45 million to $50 million. Butler, Hilton and Purpose Lodging will finance the development with money from investors, Danko said.
The renovations to Ross Hall are part of Butler’s larger Gateway Project, a plan to connect the campus to the Indianapolis community, particularly the Midtown area and the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, Danko said.
Earlier this month, Butler received a $22.5 million Lilly Foundation grant for the project, That includes money earmarked for a security and transit hub in the area. But no foundation money will be used to pay for the hotel, Danko said; that will come from private investment.
Alysa Guffey covers growth and development for the Indy Star. Reach her at [email protected] or @AlysaGuffeyNews.
