Arena district to be home to another event venue, office and three Airbnb suites

Though it seems like venues would be some of the hardest-hit businesses during a pandemic, Blake Guthrie said that’s not the case with the Hudson, the venue he opened in 2017 at 508 S. Commerce St.

In fact, he’s now expanding the business through the purchase of a second building nearby at 429 S. St. Francis.

“I’ve kind of been eyeing that street for the last couple of years,” Guthrie said. “We really like the arena district area.”

He said there’s not a lot of space left to develop on Commerce Street, so that made St. Francis appealing, including a century-old brick building there.

“It piqued our interest,” Guthrie said of himself and business partner Christian Packebush, who is not a partner in the Hudson.

“We were going to try to salvage it, but it was just too far gone,” Guthrie said.

They did save the bricks from the building and are going to incorporate them into a new two-story building.

Chad Glenn of 3ten Architecture said the plan is to reuse the bricks in as similar of a style to the old building as possible.

The new building will serve several purposes.

Guthrie is moving his Hudson offices to the St. Francis building to create more space at the Hudson for people to lounge and take photos.

There also will be room at the new building for people using the Hudson to get in early if the venue isn’t ready due to cleanup from another event.

“It’s nice to give them some space just to get ready,” Guthrie said.

The St. Francis building will be a venue of its own as well for events up to about 100 people, which the Hudson has a harder time accommodating because of so many larger events.

Also, the building will have a couple of Airbnb suites upstairs, which anyone can rent. Guthrie said it would be ideal for people using the Hudson or anyone going to nearby Intrust Bank Arena.

There will be a third Airbnb unit in a former boxcar that will sit next to the building. Currently, it’s sitting behind the Hudson. Packebush said it’s a perfect use for the car.

The two hope to start construction next month after submitting plans to the city.

There’s no name for the new building yet.

Guthrie said he’d like at least part of the building ready by March in case the NCAA Tournament happens.

He already has events booked for the next couple of years at the Hudson.

“Our projected outlook for 2021 and 2022 looks very good.”

A lot of spring 2020 events had to be moved to the fall, but Guthrie said his staff did a great job of working with everyone and getting events rescheduled. He said with only a couple of actual cancellations, sales weren’t off from the preceding year.

“It’s pretty remarkable.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 11:27 AM.