FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) –The Olde Canal Hotel will overlook a valley with meadows and ponds, away from the din of traffic on West Jefferson Boulevard.

The quiet is part of an office park off Olde Canal Place, home to Aging & In-Home Services, Indiana Wesleyan University, and a Hampton Inn, among other businesses. The Canal Flats apartments are new, quiet, and overlook the valley to the south.

The 115,000-square-foot hotel, proposed by Blue Flame Development, LLC, a Fort Wayne-based company, will take up a little more than 4.5 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac called Olde Canal Place Court. The application submitted this week to the Fort Wayne Plan Commission doesn’t give any details about esthetics, but does request a height waiver up to 60 feet “to accommodate the development of a dual-brand hotel.” The two hotel brands were not mentioned in the application.

A trail path below hotel site
Olde Canal Hotel building site will overlook valley

“All of the major hotel brands are significantly larger in the area and taller than the current ordinance stands for C2,” a commercial zoning designation. “As such, while hotels are a permitted use in C2, there are no feasible quality hotel brands that would meet the standards, thus creating a practical difficulty in using the site for hotel purposes,” the application for waiver of required design standards reads.

The primary development plan shows two large buildings for hotel rooms and a large parking area off the cul-de-sac. The rear building would have viewing over the undeveloped land that contains woods, meadows, ponds, and what appears to be a footpath or towpath. If true, it would link history to the heavily used canal theme.

The Olde Canal Hotel will be part of an office park with hotels and a university.

Blue Flame Development Co. is owned by Jason Patel, the company’s president and CEO, according to his LinkedIn page.

The next Fort Wayne Plan Commission hearing is Nov. 13, when more information about the hotel will be heard.