How a City-Backed Hotel on East Crogan Street Turned Into Lawrenceville's Newest Night Out

For most of this decade, a three-tier parking deck stood on East Crogan Street with nothing on top of it. It was finished in the fall of 2020, just as hotel financing dried up during the pandemic, and it sat there for years waiting for the building it was designed to hold.

That building is now The Lawrence Hotel, a four-story, brick-clad Hilton Tapestry Collection property at 120 E. Crogan St. It began welcoming guests on Aug. 28, 2026. Visitors get 120 rooms. If you live nearby, the useful part is on the ground floor: a Mediterranean-meets-Southern restaurant called Bellfire and a courtyard bar called Old Nick's, both named after pieces of Lawrenceville history. You can walk to either one from Aurora Theatre in about a minute.

The building downtown paid for

The way this hotel was financed explains why it was designed to face the town as much as the highway.

The city started the project. The Suwanee Magazine timeline goes like this:

• 2018: A feasibility study and the first concepts.
• 2019: Architecture, engineering drawings, and parking deck plans completed. The deck breaks ground late in the year.
• Fall 2020: The deck is finished. Then the pandemic hits and the project goes into hibernation.
• Early 2024: The city and the Downtown Development Authority agree on a new structure that brings the project back.
• Early 2025: Construction begins.
• August 2026: Doors open.

The 2024 restart was more than new funding. Under an agreement the DDA took to the city, the first developer had finished the deck and handed it to the DDA but could not complete the rest of the project. After that deal was unwound in March 2024, the DDA took over the project rights, hired NorthPointe Hospitality Management & Development to manage development, and was listed as the property owner. The plan was to finance the hotel with revenue bonds.

As Suwanee Magazine reported, NorthPointe's Greg Winey gave his leasehold stake to the public authority so the project could use municipal bonds. He stayed on as developer and operator, but he does not own the building. "The city brought the vision; I brought the ambition," Winey told the magazine.

In other words, Lawrenceville's downtown authority now owns a full-service hotel on one of its own blocks. Project officials call it the "first-ever upscale, boutique, full-service hotel" downtown, as Urbanize Atlanta reported on opening day.

What used to be on that block

If you've lived here a while, you'll remember the site. Urbanize Atlanta reported that the hotel and its base deck replaced a large parking lot and two commercial buildings, one of them a formerly grand home, across a full city block. Go back further and the ground was industrial. ConventionSouth notes the site's history includes a cotton mill and the Genesco shoe factory, which ran into the 1970s.

That history shows up in the names inside. The owners didn't bring in an outside brand for the dining. They named both venues after the town.

Bellfire and Old Nick's, for people who don't need a room

Before opening, NorthPointe said in plain terms who the ground floor was for. In the reservation announcement covered by Southwest Gwinnett Magazine, Winey said he pictured the hotel as a place "locals enjoy frequenting for date nights, dining and even staycation experiences that encourage them to rediscover their own city."

Here is what each venue offers.

Bellfire is named for Lawrenceville's bell tower and firehouse. According to FOX 5 Atlanta, executive chef Dominic Simpson runs a menu that blends Mediterranean and Southern cooking.

• Hours: breakfast daily, 6:30 to 10:30 a.m., and dinner daily, 5 to 10 p.m.
• Breakfast: avocado toast, eggs, waffles, pancakes
• Dinner: Southern deviled eggs, fried green tomato, lamb meatballs, fish and grits, grilled ribeye
• You can reserve through the Bellfire page

Old Nick's is named after Lawrenceville's town mule from the early 1900s. The hotel describes it as a courtyard retreat for neighbors and travelers, with craft cocktails, fine whiskeys, and small plates.

• Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday
• Menu: deviled eggs, cornbread, shrimp, kebabs, a burger, a chicken sandwich, flatbreads
• Details are on the Old Nick's page

Bellfire's schedule matters more than it looks. The square already has plenty of dinner options, but a full sit-down breakfast that opens at 6:30 a.m. every day of the week gives downtown a morning anchor it did not have before. Old Nick's opens at 5 p.m., so it lines up with the hour people start arriving for shows at the Arts Center.

A block from the theater, steps from the square

The hotel sits less than a block from the Lawrenceville Arts Center, home of Aurora Theatre, and steps from the Historic Downtown Square. Urbanize Atlanta put the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse about a block away.

That location is why the building reaches past its own guests. A Bellfire dinner before an Aurora show, or a drink at Old Nick's afterward, no longer means moving the car. The deck that sat empty for years is now part of an evening you can do entirely on foot.

Using it this fall

The downtown calendar for the next few weeks runs right past the hotel's doors. Here's how each date pairs with the new spots.

Saturday, Oct. 31: Halloween Magic Show at Aurora Theatre. The downtown calendar lists a Halloween Magic Show from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Aurora Theatre. Bellfire's breakfast service runs until 10:30 a.m., which leaves time for a family meal at the hotel before a walk of less than a block to the theater.

Saturday, Nov. 7: Red Clay Ramble at Slow Pour Brewing and the Depot District. The city is promoting the Red Clay Ramble as a Georgia music and harvest festival running from 2 to 10 p.m. The lineup includes The Threadbare Skivvies, Restless Natives, Sallie, Supper, Devin Shamel, and a DJ set from Cam Christian. You'll also find harvest vendors, folk artisans, glass blowing, wood carving, and lawn games. As evening comes on, there's a pumpkin smash, axe throwing, and a DJ afterparty. Slow Pour Brewing's taproom is at 407 N. Clayton St., in a refurbished factory with a beer garden. Gwinnett Magazine has described the Depot District as about a seven-minute walk from the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse. With the hotel about a block from the courthouse, you can walk the whole day without driving. If you'd like a quieter finish after a loud afternoon, Old Nick's stays open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays.

Thursday, Nov. 12: The Preview at the Lawrenceville Arts Center. The Preview concert features Lydia Von Hof on the Bartow & Leslie Morgan Cabaret Stage inside the Arts Center. Bellfire starts dinner service at 5 p.m. on the same block.

All three dates use the hotel the same way. It's where you start or finish an outing whose main event is somewhere else downtown. That fits a building the city spent eight years and a bond deal getting finished.

The Lawrence also gives downtown more than 6,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event and meeting space, plus an open-air courtyard designed for gatherings. Before this, a local group hosting a meeting or celebration near the square had fewer full-service choices within walking distance of the courthouse.

Downtown Lawrenceville has changed a lot in a short time, and our team follows it block by block, from new spots like Bellfire and Old Nick's to the streets around them. If you're thinking about how this side of Gwinnett fits your family's next move, La'Tep Real Estate Group is happy to talk it through in English or Vietnamese. Schedule your free bilingual home consultation.