Apartment developer buys 4 more Tri-Cities hotels. And already closed a family favorite

An Oregon company that’s turning a Richland motel into micro apartments has bought a landmark Richland hotel and three more motels in the Tri-Cities.

The nearly 200-room Best Western Plus, once called the M Hotel and the Tower Inn, was purchased by Fortify Holdings, several sources confirmed to the Tri-City Herald.

The six-story hotel on George Washington Way was shut down over the weekend, but the company’s plans for the property are not clear. Signs on the door say it’s closed for renovation.

Sara Davis, the director of sales for the Best Western Plus, confirmed Fortify is the new owner but referred all other questions to the company.

Fortify could not be reached Monday or Tuesday about its property investments in the Tri-Cities.

Sources say the Beaverton-based firm also bought the Richland Economy Inn, 515 George Washington Way, the Rodeway Inn on Oregon Avenue and the Quality Inn on 7901 W. Quinault Ave. in Kennewick.

Fortify Holdings buys aging properties and renovates them into housing units. The company owns more than 3,000 rentals across 26 properties in Oregon and Washington.

The company already is converting an aging Days Inn on Jadwin Avenue into lofts apartments after recently getting special approval from the Richland City Council.

Three of the company’s properties will be on one of the busiest streets in the Tri-Cities and on a commuter path to the Tri-Cities biggest employers — the Hanford nuclear site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

And it comes at a time when the Tri-Cities is one of the most competitive apartment rental markets in the nation and when a growing number of new hotel rooms are being added in town.

Hotel industry

In all, 566 rooms will be removed from the lodging inventory, said Michael Novakovich, president and CEO of Visit Tri-Cities.

“We been having this growing hotel inventory without an increase in a demand,” he told the Tri-City Herald.

Over the past couple of years, 324 more rooms have been added with the opening of new Tri-Cities hotels such as the WoodSpring Suites Tri-Cities.

He added that during the pandemic there has not been a usual significant demand for hotels, which then caused occupancy rates to be high and room rates to increase along with them.

“This will create an opportunity for a higher average daily rates and an increase in lodging taxes which supports the community,” Novakovich said.

But contrary to some other dilapidated properties — the 197-room Best Western Plus recently went through a massive renovation.

“When we look at the properties that are converting, Best Western is the saddest,” he said.

Best Western Plus

County records show the Best Western hotel and the 5 acres it sits on are assessed at $5.6 million.

The hotel was built in 1974 but was closed in 2013. It reopened in 2015 after Sarnjit “Sam” Bath and Onkaar Dhaliwal bought it.

The new owners converted the hotel into a Best Western Plus, resurfaced the iconic pool with its big tube slide and added all new furnishings and finishings. The renovation wrapped up in November 2019 with a grand reopening.

Athletes and families that travel for sports tournaments have long enjoyed staying at the property to take advantage of the pool.

However, Novakovich pointed out there are many other hotels in the Tri-Cities with pools, as well as great amenities.

The now-former hotel owners were out of town this week and were unavailable to comment on the change.

The Economy Inn just recently closed its doors. A fence and no trespassing signs were put up at the property. And several people on social media have commented on seeing security guards now on site.

The Rodeway Inn also is listed as permanently closed. It’s unclear when it shut down.

While supporters see the hotel and motel conversions as a way of adding new apartment rentals to a city desperately in need of more places to live, others worry about the loss of motel rooms.

“If we consistently had occupancy rates that were running so high people left the community to find hotels, it would be problematic,” Novakovich said. But he believes, “(The industry) will find equilibrium.”

And it’s a conversion that Ziad Elsahili, Fortify Holidings’s president has done before in other cities across Washington and Oregon. Right now, he’s working on turning a Spokane Days Inn into a similar apartment complex.

Zoning changes

The Days Inn will be the first in the Tri-Cities.

The Days Inn with 97 rooms is being converted into 260-square-foot loft apartments.

The nearby Economy Inn had become what many residents call an eyesore and troubled spot.

The hotel that was built in 1962 is assessed at just shy of $1 million, but has fallen into disrepair and has been the site of multiple crimes.

And it was the location of a fatal stabbing of a man who had been living there in May 2020.

County documents list property owners as Richland residents Jasmine and Ali Sayed. They could not be reached for comment.

This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM.