The Suite Life

From Bob Dylan holing up at New York’s Chelsea Hotel to Coco Chanel nesting at the Paris Ritz for 37 years, hotel living historically has been the provenance of celebrities and artists.

In the last couple of decades, however, it has become more widespread—albeit with a decidedly domestic twist. At the Conrad Residences, where 16 deluxe condos make up the top floors of the posh Conrad Indianapolis hotel, owners satisfytheir appetite for both a real home and a glam lifestyle. Conrad residents have access to the same health club, pool, and spa facilities as the hotel’s guests. They can order room service, request the services of the executive chef, and have their dry-cleaning picked up. A private concierge service assists them with everything from securing sold-out concert tickets to greeting party guests, checking their coats, and coordinating valet parking.

Unlike the well-publicized residents of celebrity-haunt hotels, most Conrad residents—including the owners of the residence featured here—prefer anonymity. “Everything is done as discreetly as possible, without having to bother the residents,” says Ben Etherington, one of two full-timejack-of-all-trades concierges who act as the homeowners’ private doormen, travel agents, personal shoppers, barkeeps, and more. Etherington has even been known to assist one resident with buttoning his cufflinks just so. Another once returned from a shopping trip with a new suit that didn’t fit. “I pinned it and had it fitted and tailored within two hours,” Etherington says.

Shortly after well-to-do buyers snapped up most of the real estate at the Conrad, the trend began catching on at other downtown locales. Mixed-use projects such as Penn Centre, a pair of condo-hotels at Pennsylvania and Maryland streets; Ralston Square, 10 stories of hotel rooms, condos, and retail space near Union Station; and West Merrill Tower, planned near Lucas Oil Stadium, began taking shape. Other plans for condo-hotels have been discussed, says Terry Sweeney, vice president of real-estate development for Indianapolis Downtown Inc. But the weakened economy halted the Penn Centre project and delayed Ralston Square and West Merrill Tower, leaving the Conrad Residences—at least for now—in a class of its own.