Hotel and restaurant complex planned in Elizabethtown

Ark Investment Partners acquires 8.4-acre site

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation has announced the sale of 8.4 acres to Ark Investment Partners for the development of a hotel and restaurant complex.

The site is located at 109 Ring Road, just behind McDonald’s on U.S. 62.

Ark Investment Partners develops branded hotels, luxury senior apartments, assisted living facilities and student accommodations.

“Ark Investment Partners has enjoyed early success by working with a strong team of designers, architects, general contractors, project managers and property operators who have collectively gathered an ability to conceptualize, develop and grow successful real estate developments in our target markets,” said the company’s CEO, Tahera Jaffer.

Preliminary plans propose a four-story, 112-room hotel on half the site. The hotel brand, or flag, has not yet been identified. The owners plan to develop the other half of the site for a restaurant.

“Because of our knowledge of the Elizabethtown community, we decided we wanted our first project in Kentucky to be in Elizabethtown,” said partner Dr. Sukaina Jaffer, M.D. “Working with the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation reinforced our commitment to Elizabethtown as a great development opportunity.”

The hotel is a welcome addition to Elizabethtown, said Sherry Murphy, executive director of the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau.

“With the Elizabethtown Sports Park visitors overflowing to other communities, we definitely need more rooms in Elizabethtown,” she said. “We are thrilled by the news of a new hotel and the opportunity to keep those tourism dollars in our community.”

In addition to multiple recreational and historic attractions that fuel tourism, Elizabethtown is host to a growing industrial base and business community, home to regional healthcare system Hardin Memorial Health and a quick drive from Fort Knox, noted Elizabethtown Mayor Edna Berger.

“All these factors are bringing more visitors to Elizabethtown, whether they are traveling for pleasure, business or personal needs,” Berger said. “We’re excited Ark Investment Partners’ first Kentucky project will provide new lodging options for those visitors.”

The project is in the early development phase and should break ground in early 2017.