Payment issues with some contractors linger but the Hotel Indigo on Lindell Boulevard opened this afternoon.

The Roberts Cos. spent $17 million on renovating the 1950s Bel-Air motor lodge, which was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. Gone is the original pool, replaced by a courtyard. But the Bel-Air’s original layout is maintained and the 127 rooms have the usual contemporary furnishings and electronics.

For more on the new CWE place plus updates on the Roberts brothers’ projects downtown–the Hotel Indigo on Locust Street and the condo tower next to the Mayfair Hotel–check out Wednesday’s Post-Dispatch.

Here’s a preview: The downtown Indigo will be delayed at least a year. But the condo tower is zipping along, the brothers say. The exterior should be done by late this year and a Chicago company has been hired to market the building.