Downtown's Antlers hotel changing hands

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 7, 2004 | by WAYNE HEILMAN THE GAZETTE

The Antlers Adam's Mark Hotel, a historic landmark and the only full-service hotel downtown, was sold Dec. 30.

The sale price was not disclosed. The hotel's new owners haven't decided which hotel chain will operate the Antlers, but Hilton and Marriott are being considered.

For the short term, the hotel will continue to operate as an Adam's Mark.

The 292-room, 11-story hotel at 4 S. Cascade Ave. hosts numerous business, civic and charity events as well as many conventions.

It is among the largest hotels in Colorado Springs.

A partnership of investment giant Morgan Stanley and hotel management firm Pyramid Advisors LLC of Boston are the hotel's new owners. Pyramid operates 11 other hotels in seven states.

Marisa Serrano, the Antlers general manager, said the hotel would operate as an Adam's Mark franchise for as long as six months.

The hotel's new owners plan a significant renovation before it is taken over by the new franchisee, she said.

"This is very good news for the hotel and Colorado Springs. The employees are very excited," said Serrano, who has run the Antlers for nearly two years.

The Antlers' 250 employees were retained by the joint venture.

"The Antlers is a beautiful hotel in a great location. Changing the brand will only strengthen it," said Bob Benton, a Parkerbased hotel industry consultant. "Both Marriott and Hilton would bring more convention business to the hotel because of their national reach."

Pyramid's management team is well acquainted with the Antlers, said Jim Dina, the company's chief operating officer. He and four other top Pyramid officers worked with Promus Hotel Corp., operator of the Doubletree chain of hotels. Doubletree ran the Antlers until it was sold to Adam's Mark in 1998 for $35.4 million.

"We operated that hotel before and are very excited to be there again. We know the community and want the hotel to be a leader in the community," Dina said.

Adam's Mark parent, HBE Corp., declined to comment on the transaction. A 2001 deal to sell the Antlers and five other hotels collapsed.

The company has struggled since settling a boycott triggered by racial discrimination allegations in the late 1990s. It has been hurt by a slow economy and by the Sept. 11 attacks.

"They wouldn't be selling these hotels at the bottom of the market if they (the company) were doing well," Benton said.

Built on its current site by Colorado Springs founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer in 1883, the hotel was destroyed by fire 15 years later, rebuilt, torn down in the 1960s, rebuilt again and then remodeled in 1989-90 as part of an expansion of the Palmer Center complex.

In addition to the Antlers, seven Adam's Mark hotels with about 2,600 rooms were acquired in the deal.

They include hotels in Grand Junction; Daytona Beach and Clearwater Beach, Fla.; Columbia, S.C.; Northbrook, Ill.; Indianapolis; and San Antonio.

Terms were not disclosed.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0234 or wayneh@gazette.com THE GAZETTE - SOLD: The history of the Antlers Adam's Mark Hotel dates back to 1883.