The Blackstone was built by the Bankers Realty Investment Company as a
residential hotel in 1915. Residents generally rented by the year rather than the day and received hotel services. Although there were single room units, most were suites with six to eight rooms. Each floor had four glass sunrooms and ornate furnishings throughout. In 1920, the building was purchased by
Charles Schimmel, an immigrant from
Vienna. After converting the Blackstone to a regular hotel, it soon became a "symbol of elegance" and gained a high stature nationwide as the premier hotel between Chicago and San Francisco along the
Lincoln Highway. Among its amenities, the hotel published its own magazine,
The Blackstonian, and kept a small fleet of
Pierce-Arrow limousines for visiting dignitaries who arrived in Omaha by
train. There were also a
ballroom, rooftop
gardens, and award-winning restaurants. The Orleans Room was the Blackstone's most famous restaurant; it received
Holiday Magazine's "Award for Excellence" for 16 straight years. Through the 1970s the building was one of the most successful elegant small hotels in the country. In September 2007,
Kiewit Corporation, one of five
Fortune 500 companies based in Omaha, bought the Blackstone. Kiewit sold the property in 2017 to local investors Clarity Development Co. and Green Slate Development, who restored it as a luxury hotel, at a cost of $75 million. It opened in November 2020 as the
Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel, operated by the
Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group The original name can no longer be used due to legal issues. ==Construction==