Renovated Indiana hotel to reopen to 1st guests since 1970s

ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana hotel that closed in the 1970s is set to check in its first guests in a half-century following a $23 million, years-long renovation.

The nearly century-old Hotel Elkhart is scheduled for a Tuesday grand reopening as part of Hilton's Tapestry Collection of hotels. The newly revamped nine-story building boasts 93 guest rooms, two restaurants, a ballroom, meeting space and a rooftop bar.

The hotel was built in 1923 but it closed as a hotel in the early 1970s, The Elkhart Truth reported.

The $23 million renovation began in 2018 in the city about five miles (eight kilometers) east of South Bend, but the work was delayed by more than a year before the COVID-19 pandemic caused additional delays.

The renovation was led by Cressy Commercial Real Estate and Mno-Bmadsen, which is the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The project also received support from government entities, including the city of Elkhart.

Mno-Bmadsen CEO Julio Martinez called said the renovation 'œa labor of love."

'œWe're incredibly honored to be a partner on this investment and are excited to see this property brought back to life in what are the ancestral lands of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians," Martinez said in a news release.