Owners of Kelso Red Lion site look to build Holiday Inn, La Quinta
The owners of the Kelso property that previously held the Red Lion Hotel plan to build two new hotels on the fire-damaged site.
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A two-alarm commercial fire mostly destroyed the roughly 55-year-old building in March, leaving debris and part of the 161-room hotel standing at the South Kelso Drive site.
Permit filings with the city of Kelso show the listed owner, Mike Bath of California-based Anand, LCC, plans to build a La Quinta and a Holiday Inn on the roughly 5.8-acre site.
In some filings, the owner is listed as Mohkam Bath instead.
The Holiday Inn will include a third-story addition totaling 17,080 square feet, the documents state.
The first floor is planned to include the lobby and a covered drive-thru entryway. The second floor would include a meeting hall, and the third, eight new guest rooms, according to the permit for a pre-application conference.
Designs show some existing rooms will remain and may be used in the new hotel.
Hotels
Designs show plans for two hotels on the site of the former Kelso Red Lion, mostly destroyed in a March fire.
The La Quinta Inn & Suites would be located next door and be two stories high. The lobby area is planned to double to 6,900 square feet and to include a 1,225-square-foot covered drive-thru entryway at the main entrance.
The parking and landscape would also be updated.
A developer for a planned Cowlitz County Fairgrounds hotel has also expressed interest in building a La Quinta at the Seventh Avenue location.
La Quinta is owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
A pool to remain
No one was reported injured in the March 7 fire that forced guests from 16 rooms to evacuate from the 110,488-square-foot hotel.
A total of 60 firefighters helped put out the blaze for about 24 hours.
The Red Lion previously included an outdoor pool, bar and grill and 10,000-square-foot meeting space.
Design plans show the pool to remain near the Holiday Inn.
The Red Lion Hotels Corporation announced the sale of the property to owners who signed a franchise agreement in 2014.
California-based Ace Design, LLC, filed the Kelso permit on behalf of the current owners.
No tentative construction dates are listed on the permit regarding a conference on these initial plans.
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