Hotel Celare
Where campus meets hospitality
Hotel Celare brings the first hotel to Cincinnati’s Clifton neighborhood, creating a sophisticated dialogue with the University of Cincinnati’s renowed campus architecture just across the street.
This 171-key hotel serves a community that had been waiting for convenient accommodations for university visitors. The site’s constraints and shared parking with adjacent housing required thoughtful coordination of how people move through the space. We designed the building as a simple form that gains complexity through its materials—transitioning from dark to light brick—and features like a green roof that provides pleasant views for upper-floor guests. The raised corner element responds to zoning needs while improving sight lines at this busy intersection.
The design brings the hotel’s “curate curiosity” tagline to life through planned moments of discovery. Integrated paver tiles with lighting create pathways that draw visitors from the streetscape up through the hotel and out onto the terraced porches, where the spirit of front-porch gathering meets views of downtown Cincinnati and the university campus. These outdoor spaces become extensions of the interior experience, places where guests can watch the annual Clifton parade or simply connect with the neighborhood’s energy. The lighting system guides this journey of exploration, ensuring each visit reveals something new.
Construction brought the usual complexities of coordinating multiple stakeholders, including a second-floor program adjustment to better align food and beverage operations with operator preferences. As the architectural team, we served as the constant through various moving parts, helping onboard new consultants and maintain project momentum. Our established relationship with the developer, operator, and general contractor—the same successful team from the AC Dayton project—proved invaluable as everyone navigated this luxury-tier territory together.
The result includes Cameron Mitchell Restaurants’ Cap City Fine Diner restaurant, which serves both hotel guests and the broader Clifton community. What makes Hotel Celare work is how it responds to its context—sophisticated enough to complement UC’s architectural legacy while remaining connected to the residential neighborhood that surrounds it. The building creates opportunities for engagement throughout, turning functional spaces into moments of activation and ensuring the hotel becomes part of the fabric of Clifton rather than just a place to stay.
What others are saying
- CityCincinnati, Ohio
- Clients Crawford Hoying and Shaner Hotels
- Year Completed 2025
- Size of Project 134,000 SF, 171 Keys