Group buys long-troubled Sioux City hotel for $2 million

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) - A locally owned hotel group has bought the downtown Sioux City Hotel & Conference Center for $2 million and is pledging to refurbish the long-troubled downtown property.

New owners Sam Thakkar and Mike Desai said Friday that their family has started a top-to-bottom refurbishment of the 193-room hotel, the Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/14Oommv ) reported.

The Sioux City Hotel & Conference Center sits next to the city-operated Sioux City Convention Center. City officials have said they need a top-flight hotel to land events at the convention center.

The hotel opened in 1974 as part of a downtown urban renewal project, but has fallen on hard times in recent years as a series of owners struggled to make it profitable.

Desai said his family has more than 20 years' experience in the hospitality business and owns and operates four other hotels in the area.

Thakkar said one of his family's chief goals is to bolster public perceptions of the downtown property, after years of neglect by the previous owners.

"We have to change the image of the hotel," he said.

Some of improvements already underway include replacing outdated carpeting and furniture in the front lobby and installing new televisions, microwaves and mini-refrigerators in the guest rooms.

The hotel's indoor pool, which has been closed for years, also will be repaired and re-opened this year.

The new owners also are applying for a liquor license to operate a lounge on the first floor and are exploring hiring a contractor to run an adjoining restaurant.

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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com