NEWS

Hotel Covington now open

Scott Wartman
swartman@nky.com
Covington businessman and philanthropist Oakley Farris (right) chats with Karissa Yates, a model dressed in 1950's style clothes during the grand opening of the Hotel Covington.

After four years of planning and two years of construction, the Hotel Covington welcomed its first guests on Tuesday.

The crowd sipped champagne on Madison Avenue under the morning sun in Covington to celebrate the 114-room hotel in the center of the city's business district.

Models in 1940s garb stood in the windows as living relics of a bygone era when the building housed  Coppin's Department Store. The building later housed Covington City Hall.

“This is awesome,” said City Commissioner Chuck Eilerman as he stared at the new hotel. "Everything they do is fantastic."

The building doesn’t look anything like the former city hall, with a posh lobby draped in fur blankets and fancy lighting. There's also an upscale restaurant, dubbed Coppin's Restaurant in homage to the department store that operated there from 1910 until the 1970s.

Weekends are booked until the last weekend in October, management said. They have weddings already scheduled as far out as 2018, said Guy van Rooyen, the hotel’s developer who also owns the adjacent Madison Event Center.

“For the last four years, it's been me pitching a vision,” van Rooyen said. "Now we can finally open the doors and let you see what we've been talking about.

A night's stay in the hotel will range from $189-$329.