New downtown hotel to be called The Publisher
The Vakos Companies’ new downtown Fredericksburg hotel will be called The Publisher, paying homage to the history of the site where it’s being built.
Vakos executives announced the name Thursday morning during an economic development breakfast held at the Fredericksburg Convention Center (which is being renamed from the Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center — look for more details about this matter on this blog Monday).
The region’s only full-service hotel will be part of Marriott’s premium Tribute Portfolio. It will feature 98 rooms, including three penthouse suites and a presidential suite. It will also include a nearly 8,000-square-foot high-end restaurant along William Street, meeting space and more. It will be adjacent to a 6,500-square-foot Anytime Fitness location, which has been completed in the 50-unit Amelia House luxury apartment building, which will open this spring.
The Publisher is expected to open in Spring 2024. The hotel is on the property that for decades was home to The Free Lance-Star newspaper, whose office has since relocated within the City of Fredericksburg.
“Fredericksburg is intertwined in American history, our city’s stories are American stories, and The Publisher stands at the very location from which they were told,” Vakos officials said in a written announcement. “Built on the site once home of The Free Lance-Star newspaper, The Publisher Hotel is the gateway to the city’s new stories and centered in the heart of Fredericksburg. Our guests will travel to uncover the not-so-known stories of the Rappahannock Region as they write their own chapters amongst them. The Publisher will stand as an icon for setting those stories free and invites guests to be our communities’ new storytellers, creating memories and stories from the center of where they have been and now will forever be told.”
Also, as part of the overall redevelopment project called William Square, Vakos has built the 34-unit Winchester Place apartments and the adjacent 321-space parking garage. Plans are in the works for a mixed-use building at the corner of Douglas and William streets that will include restaurant, office, retail, financial and event space.