Crowne Plaza hotel sold for $13.1M, rebrands as ‘Radisson Dayton’

Site may be divided for hotel and residential uses.

Credit: JIM NOELER

Credit: JIM NOELER

The Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Dayton was purchased for $13.1 million and is being rebranded as Radisson-Dayton.

Commonwealth, a Covington, Ky. hotel management company, said in a statement that an alliance was formed to purchase the hotel near the Dayton Convention Center with Radisson Hotel Group Americas and Lockwood Development Partners, in partnership with nonprofit Veteran Services USA.

The hotel first built in 1975 at 33 E. Fifth St., directly across Fifth from the Dayton Convention Center, is described in records as having 13 floors, with more than 280 rooms.

The rebranded hotel can expect to face stiff competition after a difficult year for hotels everywhere.

The first new downtown hotel in decades — the Fairfield Inn & Suites — opened with 98 rooms at the corner of Monument Avenue and Patterson Boulevard in the fall of 2018.

It was the first downtown hotel since the former Stouffer’s Dayton Plaza Hotel, then the Crowne Plaza, opened in 1976.

A Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 2140 S. Edwin C. Moses Blvd. added 96 rooms when it opened in late 2018.

In early 2020, before the pandemic, Columbus developer Crawford Hoying announced a plan to build a 134-room AC Hotel by Marriott downtown, integral to the overall redevelopment of the Mendelson’s Outlet building.

The downtown Dayton Arcade’s main developer in February also revealed plans for a new hotel in the north part of the arcade complex, in an area previously targeted for micro-apartments.

Terry Baltes, a Dayton hotel broker and owner of Baltes Commercial Realty, said most hotels have survived the pandemic thanks to federal assistance. And lenders have been willing to work out forbearance agreements with many hotel owners.

“That’s what kept a lot of them afloat,” Baltes said, adding: “Now I will share with you that the leisure market is back with a vengeance.”

Business travel is still down, however, he acknowledged, and that is hurting the industry.

If the newly branded Radisson can modernize, it may prove to be competitive, he said.

“They’re going to have to renovate the Radisson hotel to today’s new modern standards,” Baltes said.

This hotel’s strength will be its location and link to the convention center, he believes.

Said Baltes: “Is it a very competitive market? No question about it. But good operators will survive.”

The partnership says it has acquired and will jointly re-develop nine hotels across eight states, including the Dayton hotel.

Commonwealth will operate and manage all nine properties, making it one of the largest franchisors with Radisson, the business said.

“Commonwealth will undertake a comprehensive multi-million-dollar renovation of the properties — adaptive mixed-use hotel conversions built on the Radisson Hotel Group Americas brand and development principles,” the release said.

The alliance creates a “unique model” that will divide buildings with separate entrances for residential and hotel uses, “putting them to their highest and best use by repurposing distressed properties fitting today’s environment.”

Questions were sent to the Commonwealth representative about specific plans for the Dayton hotel.

LW Dayton V LLC is listed in Montgomery County records as the buyer, from seller Integrity Hotels Group LLC, based in Dallas, Texas. The transaction was dated Tuesday.

The buyer is associated with Lockwood Asset Hotel LLC, also operating at the same Delray Beach, Fla. address. Lockwood is a real estate investment and development company whose portfolio includes a Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn in Alabama.

Integrity Hotels Group purchased the property in 2009 for $2.6 million.

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