New Graduate Hotel is open in Richmond

The new Graduate Hotel in Richmond is open.  The 205-room property is located on Franklin Street, a block from Virginia Commonwealth University and within walking distance to the State Capitol.

The hotel includes two restaurants, a lobby café and Byrd House, a 16th-floor rooftop bar and pool that will open to the public later this summer.

Graduate Hotels, boutique hotels typically located in university towns, often pick up on themes local to the area. “We are thrilled about joining the Richmond community and revel in the rich history and culture that guided our team throughout this project,” Tim Franzen, president of Graduate Hotels, said in a statement.

The hotel’s lobby pays homage to native hero Arthur Ashe and the tennis fashion he inspired. The room’s navy walls are adorned with punk music references and framed photos of an American Fox Hound, the official dog of Virginia.

AJ Capital Partners, based in Chicago, launched the Graduate Hotels brand in 2014. There are currently nine of these hotels, including two in Virginia, in Richmond and Charlottesville, near the University of Virginia.  Other hotels are under construction in Minneapolis, Minn.; Bloomington, Ind.; Seattle; and Roosevelt Island, N.Y. They are supposed to open in 2019.