Plans for Omni Hotel downtown take key step forward

Triangle Business Journal | 05.19.2025

Plans are progressing toward the construction of the amenity-heavy Omni Hotel in Downtown Raleigh.

Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts filed site plans on May 7 for the 27-story, 553-key hotel at 10 W. South St. across from the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts.

The plans name Brady Nix, director of construction for Omni Hotels, as developer for the Raleigh project. Raleigh-based Piedmont Land Design is the project’s civil engineer while Atlanta-based Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio is the architect and interior designer.

The site is 1.06 acres bound by West South Street, South Salisbury Street, Lenoir Street and the landscaping that marks the end of Fayetteville Street. The city-owned site currently functions as a surface parking lot. The Raleigh Marriott City Center borders the site to the north, while the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts is directly to the south.

The proposed hotel, expected to open in 2027, totals 685,185 square feet with 287 parking spaces in a below-ground parking deck.

In addition to the hotel rooms, the building will come with a 10,856-square-foot restaurant, 16,765 square feet of indoor recreation space, 36,372 square feet of convention center space and 6,570 square feet of office space.

Plans show a 4,481-square-foot sports bar and a separate 3,082-square-foot “Capital Cafe” on the first floor of the hotel, adjacent to the front desk and lobby area. Plans also show a 9,414-square-foot junior ballroom and multiple small meeting rooms.

There’s also a separate outdoor amenity deck with a pool, pool bar and “3 Meal Restaurant” on the fifth level.

The overall cost for the hotel is estimated to be $300 million.

In November, the Raleigh City Council approved the allocation of $75 million to go toward infrastructure work related to the hotel project.

Nix did not return requests for comment.

Omni also has hotels in Asheville and Charlotte.

The Omni Hotel marks the third piece of Downtown Raleigh’s trifecta of big changes with the relocation of Red Hat Amphitheater and the expansion of the Raleigh Convention Center. The Omni Hotel, intended to increase capacity for convention goers, is expected to open prior to the convention expansion.

Work is underway to relocated the amphitheater.