21c is a hotel company with a venue in Louisville, Ky and plans for art-themed hotels in Austin and Cincinnati. Meanwhile, the Walton family visited the Louisville hotel which was built to give patrons a different experience of art from a museum. The Wall Street Journal says:
A Walton family investment arm and partner 21c Museum Hotel of Louisville, Ky., are scheduled to disclose Tuesday that they will construct a $28 million, 130-room hotel near Bentonville’s downtown square that will open by 2012.
The hotel is one of a handful that operator 21c is modeling after the original 90-room 21c Museum Hotel that it opened in downtown Louisville in 2006.
In an unusual twist, the hotel will be designed to complement the $150 million Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that is under construction nearby. The Bentonville museum is financed mostly by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.
The Walton Family Backs Art-Hotel in Arkansas (Wall Street Journal)
More from Art Market Monitor
Walton Ford Joins Alice Walton's Museum
Alice Walton’s Ambitious Acquisitions
Fisk Gets Crystal Bridges Money; Prez Complains Too Much Set Aside for Art
What's Going to Be In the Crystal Bridges Museum
Crystal Bridges Breaks Into the Big Time
How to Make a Hotel Distinctive? Confront Your Guests with Art
