| Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Location | Detroit,Michigan |
| Address | 2 Washington Blvd |
| Coordinates | 42°19′41″N83°02′51″W / 42.328°N 83.0476°W /42.328; -83.0476 |
| Opening | July 24, 1965 |
| Owner | Thy collection llc |
| Management | Wyndham Hotels & Resorts |
| Height | 75 m (246 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 25 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | King & Lewis |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 367 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
TheFort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel, is a 367-room, 25-storyhigh-risehotel opened in 1965, adjacent to former Cobo Hall, nowHuntington Place inDowntown Detroit,Michigan.
The Plaza Land Company was established in 1955 to construct a modern hotel on a site adjacent to the plannedConvention Hall and Exhibits Building. In 1956, the company announced a partnership withConrad Hilton to construct a $24 million hotel, to be named thePontchartrain Hilton. However, theHilton Hotels Board vetoed the deal in 1960. The Plaza Land Company then turned to Samuel and Aaron Gershenson's Downtown Investment Company, which assumed control of the project.[1]
King & Lewis designed theHotel Pontchartrain in themodern architectural style, with contemporary French interiors, and employing angular bay windows which provides every room with views of theInternational Riverfront and the city. The Pontchartrain was originally intended to have a twin tower, on the other side of the plot, but it was never built. The Hotel Pontchartrain was dedicated on July 24, 1965, the 264th anniversary of the founding of Detroit.[1] It was built on the site ofFort Pontchartrain, Detroit's first permanentEuropean settlement, built in 1701, which later became known asFort Detroit.[2] The hotel is named for the fort and for an earlier Hotel Pontchartrain, which was located on Cadillac Square at Woodward Avenue, before it was demolished in 1920.[3]
George H. W. Bush stayed at the hotel during the1980 Republican National Convention. In 1985, the Crescent Hotel Group, a subsidiary ofLincoln Savings & Loan purchased the Hotel Pontchartrain for $19.5 million. Lincoln S&L ChairmanCharles Keating soon thereafter arranged to buy the hotel outright from the company and set up the Hotel Pontchartrain LP, controlled by Keating, his family, and executive contacts. The sale was financed by a series of ethically questionable loans from Lincoln and its subsidiaries and totaled $38 million.[4] U.S. SenatorDonald W. Riegle (D-MI) later cited his arrangement as his basis for considering Keating a constituent during his involvement in theKeating Five scandal.[5]
The hotel fell into receivership and was put under the control of theResolution Trust Corporation, a government-owned asset management company designed to liquidate the holdings of failed savings and loans. The RTC contracted withRadisson Hotels to manage the hotel, and it became theRadisson Hotel Pontchartrain in 1990. In 1994, the hotel was sold to Pontchartrain Hotel Group, L.L.C.. The sale closed on May 24, 1994, and the new owners severed the management contract with Radisson that day, returning the hotel to its original name. Radisson then sued the new owners for breach of contract.[6]
On March 30, 2001, the hotel reopened as theCrowne Plaza Detroit Pontchartrain, following a major renovation.[7] In 2006, Shubh LLC purchased the hotel and it underwent a $35 million renovation, reopening as theSheraton Detroit Riverside in November 2007.[8] Within a year, however,Sheraton revoked its branding agreement due to poor management and the property became theDetroit Riverside Hotel. On June 26, 2009, the Wayne County Circuit Court appointed David Findling ofThe Findling Law Firm, PLC, as receiver of the hotel.[9] The hotel was again shuttered in August 2009 when Mutual Bank of Harvey, Illinois foreclosed on the mortgage.[10] After theIllinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation banking division declared Mutual Bank insolvent, United Central Bank ofGarland, Texas, acquired Mutual Bank's assets.[11]
In March 2012, the hotel was sold by the receiver, David Findling, to Mexico-based developer Gabriel Ruiz, who planned to renovate it and entered into a management agreement with Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, a division of InterContinental Hotels.[12][13] The hotel reopened on July 17, 2013, as theCrowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Convention Center.[14] Its name was later modified toCrowne Plaza Detroit Downtown Riverfront. Due to the quality of the renovation, the hotel was awardedDevelopment of the Year byInterContinental Hotels Group in 2013. Ruiz announced plans to reopen the iconic "Top of the Pontch" restaurant and build the second tower that was included in the hotel's original plan.[15] On July 23, 2021, the hotel left IHG Hotels and was renamedFort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel.[16]
Keating arranged for a subsidiary of Lincoln to named Crescent Hotel Group (CHG) to buy the Pontchartrain Hotel, a 422-unit building in Michigan, for $19.5 million.
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