Groundbreaking Held For $14M Haywood Hotel in El Dorado

Community leaders and developers held a groundbreaking Wednesday for The Haywood Hotel in downtown El Dorado, a $14 million project set to open in May 2020.

The previously announced hotel is the latest addition to the multimillion-dollar Murphy Arts District. The first phase of the district was completed in August 2017.

The Haywood will be the area's first boutique, independently owned hotel. It will employ 20 people and hopes to host 22,000 overnight guests annually.

The hotel is expected to generate between $2.25 million and $2.5 million in annual overall revenue and an estimated $250,000 in annual sales tax revenue. Annual spending at local businesses by its guests is estimated at $500,000.

Claiborne Deming, Madison Murphy and other members of The Haywood development team of Newmark Moses Tucker Partners, Clark Contractors, AMR Architects, Beechwood Hospitality and BancorpSouth Bank attended the groundbreaking.

"I think The Haywood is something that has been needed there in El Dorado, especially with the emergence of the Murphy Arts District," Ray Nolan, senior vice president of development at Newmark Moses Tucker Partners, told Arkansas Business. "I think it has been seen as a critical piece of that.

"So that, really, has been a driver for this. The ownership group really wants and wanted something that would benefit in a positive way the community and was in keeping with the uniqueness of El Dorado as a community, the vibrancy there and the energy.

"What they’re doing in El Dorado is the kind of stuff you want to see any city do, and, for a community of that size to come together and do it is remarkable, frankly … To be a small part of that is really exciting, a real thrill."