Hotel Leighton takes shape in Taylor’s Plein Air development

A three-story boutique hotel is rising on Town Square Lane in Taylor, and its timing says as much about Plein Air’s growth as it does about hospitality demand. Hotel Leighton, a 23-room project owned by Campbell and Leighton McCool, is being built for wedding guests, reunion groups and visitors who want to stay close to Oxford without booking into a campus hotel or a chain property.

Construction on the hotel began Sept. 25, 2025, after about nine months of design work, and the McCools expect to open it in fall 2026. The plan calls for about 15,000 square feet, a 2,000-square-foot bar, a spacious patio and a bridal suite that will be roughly twice the size of a standard room. The property is named for Leighton McCool, and the owners are developing it independently of major hotel chains.

The clearest market for Hotel Leighton is already next door. Plein Air says its Chapel and the Mill average 45 weddings a year, with the chapel seating 280 guests and the Mill accommodating as many as 450. McCool said the hotel grew out of a basic question that comes with those bookings: where do all the guests stay? The answer matters in Taylor, four miles from Oxford, where wedding weekends and family gatherings can quickly spill over into nearby lodging in Oxford and Lafayette County.

The hotel is being designed to keep more of that activity inside Plein Air. McCool does not plan to add a restaurant because the development already has nearby options, including Grit, Lusco’s, a deli and a coffee shop. The hotel will also sit alongside the broader commercial lineup at Plein Air, which includes Lost Dog Coffee, Oxford Psychological, Mississippi Eye Care, Off Beat in General Store and The Chapel at Plein Air, with Studio 8 and the hotel both listed as coming soon. Guests are also expected to use the spa, Pilates studio, concerts on the lawn and retail spaces already part of the district.

Hotel Leighton also marks another step in a development that has been unfolding for years. McCool decided in late 2004 to turn 64 acres of Oxford countryside into Plein Air, and the original approvals took about 18 months through the Town of Taylor, Lafayette County, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. What began as a controversial idea has become a larger growth engine, with Plein Air’s long-term buildout described as about 200 homes, a dozen townhomes and 12 to 18 loft apartments, anchored by a seven-acre commercial district. The hotel adds a new piece to that trajectory: more overnight capacity, more spending tied to events, and a stronger signal that Taylor’s commercial center is widening beyond the town’s traditional edges.