Demopolis City Council partners with investors to convert Rosenbush Building into a hotel

The Demopolis City Council voted Thursday to work with local investors to convert the Rosenbush Building on North Walnut Avenue into an upscale hotel.

The city council voted Oct. 16 to turn the deed for the Rosenbush Building over to a group of local investors who plan to convert the building into a hotel to serve an expected influx of visitors drawn by the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.

The Rosenbush Building opened as a furniture store in 1895 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It was restored in January 1979 and was donated to the city of Demopolis.

The Marengo County History and Archive Museum, which occupies the Rosenbush Building, will be moved to the nearby Old School. Some of the artifacts will remain as points of interest in the Rosenbush Hotel, Demopolis Mayor Woody Collins told the Black Belt News Network.

The hotel will include about 22 rooms. The renovation will cost between $4 million and $6 million, according to Collins. The project is scheduled to be completed no later than the end of 2027. Collins said the hotel investors have said they want to get started in the first or second quarter of 2026.

Collins said the upscale hotel will serve parents of the 400 students who will be enrolled in the nearby Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences as well as professionals working on the Highway 43 expansion.

The investors are looking for additional investors, and the Alabama Historical Commission may invest in repurposing the historic property now that the investors have the deed in hand.

The city will have right of first refusal to purchase the building back from the investors if it is every sold, Collins said.