AccorHotels has agreed to pay $51 million for an 85% stake
in 21c Museum Hotels, furthering efforts to expand its presence in North
America's luxury and lifestyle markets.
The brand, which incorporates 21st century art galleries
into boutique hotels, will join Accor's MGallery collection of boutique hotels,
giving MGallery an entry to the U.S.
21c Museum Hotels was founded in 2006 in Louisville by
philanthropists and contemporary art collectors Laura Lee Brown and Steve
Wilson, who rehabilitated 19th century warehouses in Louisville's downtown arts
and theater district to open the brand's first hotel and exhibition space.
In addition to Louisville, the company operates properties in
Bentonville, Arkansas; Cincinnati; Durham, North Carolina; Kansas City,
Missouri; Lexington, Kentucky; Nashville; and Oklahoma City. Three more hotels
are under development in Des Moines, Iowa; Miami; and Chicago.
21c Museum describes itself as one of the largest
contemporary art museums in the United States, and North America's only
collecting museum dedicated solely to art of the 21st century. The exhibits are
free and open to the public 24 hours a day.