5-year-old Homewood resident gets private tour of downtown hotel project
Brooklyn Hammond, a 5-year-old Homewood resident, may be small in size — but she is one of the biggest fans of the new Valley Hotel development in downtown Homewood.
On Sept. 30, Brooklyn had the chance to put on a pink, customized hard hat and take a private tour of the hotel’s construction progress, and she was able to walk through the presidential suite, ballroom, Terrace Bar and more.
Brooklyn’s mother, Sade Hammond, said Brooklyn has always loved hotels. Whenever they go on a family trip, Brooklyn first asks, “What hotel are we staying in?”
She attends the Creative Montessori School in Homewood and passes the construction each day going to and from school. When she learned it was construction for a new hotel, she got excited.
“I told her, ‘When the hotel is done, we’ll have a sleepover with your friends,’” Sade said. “So every day, it’s like, ‘Is the hotel done yet? Are they finished? Look mom, they put windows in the hotel!’”
Scottie McClaney, who is Brooklyn’s grandmother, decided to tell the Valley Hotel team about her granddaughter’s fascination with the hotel’s progress.
“I was thinking, maybe they will invite her to the opening or something,” McClaney said.
But when hotel owner Michael Mouron heard about Brooklyn, he decided to offer her a private tour instead.
“It put a smile to my face,” Mouron said about McClaney’s phone call. “I have eight grandchildren, including some 4-year-olds and some 6-year-olds. So right around the same age. I thought it would be fun — I thought it would be a feel-good story, and goodness knows we need some feel-good stories right now.”
When asked about her favorite part of the hotel, Brooklyn said, “All of it.” At the end of the tour, Project Manager Elizabeth Russ gave Brooklyn a black marker and led Brooklyn to a concrete column on the first floor. Brooklyn signed her name on the column and drew a heart next to her name.
“Now whenever you go to this hotel, you can show your friends this column and say, ‘My name is on this,’” Russ told Brooklyn.
The Valley Hotel is a 129-room luxury hotel on 18th Street and is a Curio Collection by Hilton hotel. The hotel is to finish construction in December and open its doors in January.
The hotel will have an upscale restaurant on the ground floor called Ironwood Kitchen + Cocktails, which will “reimagine Southern comfort staples into the ultimate feast for the senses,” a release said. The Terrace Bar will be on the second level, and it will offer guests views of Vulcan and of 18th Street while sipping on craft cocktails and hard seltzers. There will also be a cafe with coffee and local food items.
Of the 129 guestrooms, nine will be luxury suites. There is also 7,000 square feet of space to accommodate meetings, weddings and events.
The Valley Hotel will be located at 2727 18th St. S. in Homewood. Visit valleyhotelbirmingham.com for more information.