Tabi Walters
Entrepreneur Joe Barbat bought the historic but decrepit Montgomery Ward Building at 210–216 S. Fourth Ave. in 2013. He originally planned to add four stories and turn it into a condo complex, then changed his strategy to apartment rentals. But construction took longer than expected, and the units still weren’t ready in time for move-in eliciting a flurry of one-star reviews from tenants complaining about management and building malfunctions.
They wouldn’t be the last.
Related: Makeover (Sept. 2022)
In May 2022, the building was sold to Blue Suede Hospitality Group, which that October unveiled its new vision for the apartments: an “unstaffed hotel” called Exhibit A2. “Check in digitally and head straight to your suite,” its website promised. “No front desk, just seamless access.”
“So much more pleasant than a hotel!” shares Heather W. on TripAdvisor. “This beautiful and unique suite was fully stocked, comfortable, safe, and convenient. The hosts were great at communicating, and the location is right downtown. I’ll definitely be back!” Heather W.’s experience was “a truly unique stay” indeed. (It’s worth noting that a 5-star Yelp review under the same name “has been removed for violating our Terms of Service.”)
But other reviews told a different story. After a smattering of pleasant 4- to 5-star experiences in 2023, the hotel’s rating deteriorated to 2.4 stars on Trip Advisor and 2.7 on Yelp. Since 2024, the highest review, 4 stars, still listed multiple concerns, including that the code did not work for the elevator. Writes user ToughRalph, “So upon arrival it required a walk up to the 5th floor. (When I arrived, there was another guest who also could not get elevator to work, and yet other guests on 5th floor hall were also complaining about the elevator.)”
The reviews detail noise complaints, spotty wi-fi, elevator issues, false promises, dismissed complaints, bait-and-switch bookings, and sketchy payment and confirmation methods (one guest was asked to text a picture of their credit card)—and are darkly entertaining.
The biggest problem? Check-in. While the website advertised 24/7 virtual operators who can be contacted “anytime by text, chat, or phone, and an onsite team available to assist,” guests like Bob S. note that the “lack of any employees anywhere is bonkers.” With no humans involved in the unclear check-in, guests were left feeling “zero sense of hospitality.”
“You get to the hotel? You’re locked outside. You get to the elevator? Your code doesn’t work. You get to your room door? Again the code doesn’t work,” wrote Bill W. in March 2025. “My favorite part was Calling the number they provide for assistance and having the person tell me that this was ‘a nontraditional hotel’ as if being nontraditional somehow makes it OK that I can neither use the elevator or the door to my room. I’ve traveled all over the world for business for the last 25 years, and experienced all forms of nontraditional hotels. If I sat down and tried, creatively, to create the worst imagine check in experience I could think of, it probably wouldn’t have been this annoying.”
Some reviews are so outlandish, they feel straight out of a sitcom. “I have never had a more frustrating experience in my life than the one I had trying to check in and get access codes,” shared Lauren R. in May 2025. “I have FIFTY-SEVEN texts back and forth with Exhibit A2 trying to enter my credit card for identification. … In one of my texts to them, I said: ‘I have now been working on this for several hours PLEASE, I beg of you, send me a working link to pay the security deposit.’ And they continued to send links to nothing but the same page over and over and over again.” Lauren spent a total of four hours on the phone with customer service, and a housekeeper informed her this was a daily occurrence. That night, she witnessed fourteen other guests struggling with the same issue. She concluded her review advising visitors to stay elsewhere “unless you are exceedingly patient and do not mind spending several hours just trying to check in. …
“It’s like the opposite of the Hotel California. You can leave, but you just can never check in!”
The more recent reviews escalate to warnings straight out of a horror movie:
“DO NOT STAY HERE”
“Save your $$$”
“Skip this Experience!”
“Worst experience”
“Don’t even think about booking this place”
“FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, DO NOT BOOK AT THIS HOTEL!! HORRIBLE BUSINESS!!!!”
TripAdvisor’s insider tip: “Simply avoid.”
Nicole Q. writes the most concerning review of all: during two separate stays at Exhibit A2, she witnessed gunshots, multiple brawls, and police raids not once, but during both of her visits. “There wasn’t a single staff member on site to help. On our way out that night, we witnessed blood on the walls and ceilings of the halls and elevator. It was horrific.” According to the police report, a caller reported that a male shot himself in the hand, and he was taken to U-M hospital. Exhibit A2 refunded 20 percent of Nicole’s stay.
That story, shared November 23, 2025, would be the hotel’s final review; it closed on December 31.
Kaylan Mitchell, who owns Getup Vintage in the building’s first-floor commercial space, says for the first few weeks of January, half a dozen people came into her shop looking for answers. “They handled everything awfully—straight cancelled January reservations and pretty much up and left very abruptly.”
Related: The Getup Grows Up (June 2024)
Michell is no stranger to being treated as the hotel’s concierge. Without staff on the ground, many of Exhibit A2’s guests would enter her store seeking help. At first, she was sold on the idea of a boutique hotel—“this will be posh and cool,” she thought, imagining fancy clientele staying in upscale rooms. She turned out to be glad for foot traffic while it lasted. “But if you were not a tech-savvy person, you had a lot of issues.”
Mitchell says Blue Suede, who was also her landlord, is in the process of selling the building to Chicago-based Breneman Capital. Interim property manager Cabrio Properties is managing the building in the meantime. And the hotel suites? They’re back to being available as apartments for rent.