Schuler’s nears opening of boutique hotel above historic restaurant in Marshall

Schuler’s nears opening of boutique hotel above historic restaurant in Marshall
The Royal Hotel is above Schuler’s Restaurant at 115 S. Eagle St. in downtown Marshall.

MARSHALL — Rooms above the historic Schuler’s Restaurant in downtown Marshall that served as storage space for the past 50 years have been converted to lodging once again.

Schuler’s Inc., the company that owns Schuler’s Restaurant & Pub, said Monday it is accepting reservations for stays beginning June 16 for The Royal Hotel, located above the restaurant at 115 S. Eagle St. in downtown Marshall.

It’s been more than 50 years since a hotel has operated in the building. The Royal was named after the original hotel that stood at the corner of Eagle and Green streets, purchased by Schuler’s Restaurant founder Albert Schuler in 1924.

Sue Damron, president and CEO of Schuler’s Inc., said the Schuler family closed the hotel in 1971, after which the building’s second and third floors were primarily used for office space and storage.

Damron, a 25-year employee of Schuler’s, purchased the company in November 2019 from Hans Schuler, grandson of founder Albert Schuler. In February 2022, she announced the company’s plan to convert the second and part of the third floor of the historic landmark into seven mixed-income apartments and the rest of the third floor into five hotel rooms. As part of the project, an elevator was added leading up to the second and third floors.

Construction on the hotel rooms is wrapping up.

All of the apartments, which opened in December, were leased within an hour of applications opening in November, said Joe Caron, general manager for Schuler’s Inc. Monthly rents are $771-$2,100 for one- to three-bedroom units. Four of them are designated affordable for single-person households making about $46,000 per year thanks to $725,450 in Community Development Block Grants awarded to Marshall from the Michigan Strategic Fund, Caron said.

The city also approved a 12-year Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act tax abatement valued at $561,600. Schuler’s contributed $1.7 million to the project, including about $611,000 for the hotel room renovations, Damron said.

Damron said it felt like the right time to add lodging above the restaurant back into the equation.

“We’re just super excited to take that space that’s been underutilized for so many years kind of back to its original roots of what the Schuler family had,” she said. “It’s really exciting to our team that we’ll have guests staying in the building overnight again.”

Schuler’s Enterprise, a subsidiary of Schuler’s Inc., will manage the hotel. The company will hire one to three employees initially for housekeeping and maintenance and may eventually also add additional accounting staff, Damron said.

Rates for the hotel rooms, which range in size from 192 to 366 square feet, will fluctuate based on the season and local events. They will start at $130-$225 a night in mid-June and likely will go up at the end of the month during the Marshall Blues Fest, which brings thousands of visitors to the town of fewer than 7,000 residents.

“Because the restaurant is closed on Monday, the rates on Mondays are going to tend to be the lowest of the seven days of the week,” Damron said.

All of the hotel rooms will offer contactless entry and will be outfitted with Keurig coffee makers, 55-inch smart TVs, air conditioning, Wi-Fi and walk-in showers. Four of the five units will include mini fridges, three will feature bar sinks and one will be compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

Four of the rooms — the Eagle, Mansion, Grand Suite and Jefferson — will be equipped with king beds, while the smaller Hamilton Room will have one queen bed. The Grand Suite will feature a separate living/bath area. A washer and dryer will be available in the hall for guests.

Schuler’s financed the hotel portion of the project through the Homestead Savings Bank in Albion.

The architect and contractor were Driven Design in Battle Creek and First Contracting in Ovid.

Damron said her next downtown Marshall project will be rehabilitating and repurposing the dilapidated former Dreamers Furniture building at 112 N. Eagle St. into an event space that can seat up to 250 people.