Will the Elkins Estate Become a Solis Hotel?

This Solis hotel, as seen on their website, is not in Elkins Park.

The exquisite Gilded Age Elkins Estate — a cluster of mansions designed by Horace Trumbauer — may become something more accessible than its current iteration as a Catholic spiritual retreat and drive-by curiosity (“what was that?”) for those not from Cheltenham. It would be a long road, but development company Apeiron is interested in buying it from the order of nuns and turning it into a luxury hotel — and this wouldn’t be their first spin on that particular dance floor. According to the Inquirer,

Apeiron is a relatively new firm.  Its founders have worked on some of the world’s grandest hotels, including the St. Regis in Rome and the Waldorf Astoria in Shanghai. But for now, the Elkins property is planned as an independent boutique hotel.

An eagle-eyed reader pointed something out: that one of the team members, Horst Schulze, is the CEO of Capella Hotels. While there’s little chance that an ultraluxury Capella would open in Elkins Park — or anywhere near it, or even near Philadelphia, actually — Capella does have a less expensive brand, Solis, that’s more our speed.

So if Apeiron does buy the estate, we predict with 38 percent certainty that a Solis maybe could open up there. You heard it here first.