Developer Plans To Open Hotel In NE Oklahoma City

Northeast Oklahoma City is in the third phase of a development project. An empty lot on NE 23rd St. and N. Rhode Island Ave. will soon be home to a four-story building.

Sandino Thompson said he wants NE Oklahoma City to be a must-see spot for visitors.

“I think they will pay attention in a different way to Northeast 23rd Street,” Thompson said.

The more than 50,000 square foot space will be the Hamlin Hotel named after the first Black Oklahoma legislator, A.C. Hamlin.

“It’s going to have food and beverage, those retail spaces are going to have access to a commercial kitchen and we will essentially be trying to help incubate businesses that can grow into opportunities in the innovation district that can grow into opportunities along Northeast 23rd,” Thompson said.

Thompson is the developer of the project. He said he's proud to call the Eastside his home.

“We’re trying to bridge the sort of commerce and commercial activity gap between this part of Northeast Oklahoma City, 23rd, and Martin Luther King. There are no hotel developments in that part of town. It’s a hospitality dessert in that case,” Thompson said

He hopes to attract tourists to experience what makes his community so special.

“It will be the only hotel in the urban core that has proximity to a gym, a grocery store, other bars and restaurants, and things in town,” Thompson said.

He said it's just a short drive to the Capitol and the adventure district.

“It’ll be a place for people to come and interact and engage sort of with the African American community at its heart. It will be sort of a beacon where people can come and stay and get to know the community a little better,” Thompson said.

Thompson said he hopes to break ground in a couple of months. He hopes to have the project completed sometime in 2024.