Downtown Columbus Holiday Inn To Get $4M Renovation

A Miami, Fla. hotels group yesterday announced it will invest more than $4 million to renovate the rather tired Holiday Inn on Town Street in downtown Columbus. The property has reported low occupancy in recent years. Ben Castera, president of Sound Hospitality, bought the 240-room property in July for $6.1 million. Sound Hospitality's focus is the mid-scale market. Castera said that the lobby and restaurant also will be renovated, and new windows will be installed throughout the hotel. The Columbus Dispatch reports that through September 2006 the Holiday Inn has been only half full, "far below the 65 percent average occupancy for Downtown hotels." Sound Hospitality owns three Holiday Inns in Florida, and Radisson and Hampton Inn and Suites properties in Arlington, Va.