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“We told them that we could deliver the best,” Kirkland said, “and that we’d build the most elegant hotel that Vancouver had ever seen. And we did.”
“The people of Vancouver that live here, they want to stay here. They don’t want to go to Portland to have things to do and places to be,” said Gardner. “The whole Vancouver waterfront is giving us that opportunity.
“This hotel is a place where you can have your wedding, you can have your prom. We’ve never had that,” she added.
There are already several holiday parties scheduled to take place at the hotel in December, but there are still available times on weekdays and on a couple of Sundays.
The venue is also going to be hosting a wedding and a convention next year.
The eight-story luxury boutique hotel has 138 rooms, all with luxury touches like in-room Nespresso machines and high-definition televisions that can connect to guests’ streaming services.
The hotel gives guests not only views of the Columbia River, but also the traditional amenities like a fitness center, dry cleaning and valet parking.
A nonspecific mountain-themed mural adorns the walls of each room, while the lobbies have Northwest-themed touches like canoe-shaped benches and wood slice coffee tables.
In keeping with its environmentally friendly mantra, Hotel Indigo provides guests with bulk amenities in their rooms and has a towel reuse program.
Other venues
Along with the hotel, a number of the other venues at Kirkland Tower also opened this week.
For a taste of eggs Benedict or chicken and waffles at midnight, a high-backed seat at Seattle-based restaurant 13 Coins is waiting. The restaurant, at 511 W. Columbia Way, and its coffee house, at 558 Waterfront Way, are open for business this weekend. The coffee shop opened Thursday and the restaurant opens today. Both shops are located on the ground floor of the new Kirkland Tower. The restaurant serves up elevated comfort foods, as well as breakfast all day.
The tower is also home to El Gaucho, a Seattle-based steakhouse with an open exhibition-style kitchen, which opened last week. Guests of Hotel Indigo can order room service from El Gaucho and 13 Coins during the restaurants’ operating hours.
The ground-floor El Gaucho, 510 Waterfront Way, also will be managing the building’s rooftop bar, The Witness Tree. This tapas-style restaurant and adjoining open bar with river views will only be accessible through El Gaucho. The menu, as reported by Willamette Week, will include Pacific Northwest-inspired fare, like Dungeness crab wraps, American wagyu hot dogs and terrine de foie gras. It’s expected to open at the end of December.
Each of the three restaurants have their own private dining rooms.
Among the other tenants are The Liquor Cabinet liquor store, Evoke Winery, which is set to open in early January, and Amelie spa, which is likely to open in December.
Adding to the condo availability at the waterfront is the adjacent condo tower. Twenty-five of the 40 condos in the 12-story condo tower have been sold.
The units cost between $840,000 to $3.3 million and range from 900 to 3,100 square feet in size.
“There’s no looking back in the rearview mirror now,” said Kirkland. “Just looking forward.”
