WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Wayside looking to drum up meeting, event business at hotel

Wayside looking to drum up meeting, event business at hotel

By Janelle MacDonald - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Wayside Christian Mission is getting down to the business of running its new hotel and homeless shelter and its are hoping to get some extra cash to do it.

It is not cheap to operate a 12-story hotel. Wayside does not currently have the proper permits and zoning to do what it really wants to do with the space, but they hope you will think it's a great place to get together.

When Wayside Christian Mission bought the old "Hotel Louisville Downtown," it didn't just buy the building, it bought the whole shebang. Now Nina Moseley, Wayside’s chief operating officer, said they are hoping to use all the extra space to make some extra cash.

"This is a large facility to operate and so we are trying to be creative and think of some ways to increase the revenue on this building to offset the utilities and so forth," Moseley said.

The old lounge could turn into a Christian coffee shop and Moseley said the plans for the buffet-style restaurant are to become a plate lunch cafe.

Then there are all those extra rooms. Right now, former residents of the Wayside women and children's homeless shelter only occupy two floors of economy rooms. Two more floors, the former executive rooms, are available for the public to rent.

"The general public probably won't know that some of our guests are from a homeless shelter," Moseley said.

Moseley is hoping to rent all of the extra meeting rooms and ballrooms for conferences and events. She said there has already had one successful meeting.

"It went beautiful," said Moseley. "They said they would be back."

Wayside is doing all of this to keep the new hotel open until it receives zoning approval to operate a homeless shelter.

"We just want to be able to operate and take care of our people and help them get their lives back together and back out into the community, which is what we're good at doing," Moseley said.

Wayside's economy guests will help serve the food in the conference rooms and restaurants, thereby learning a marketable skill. 

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