Closed for seven years, this hotel won’t look the same when it reopens

When Macon’s downtown highrise hotel opens to guests by early next year, everything inside will be new with modern lighting, top-of-the-line fixtures, freshly installed hardwood or carpeted flooring and a fresh coat paint.

Bathrooms in all 297 rooms were gutted in the hotel formerly known as the Ramada Plaza. As reported Wednesday, the hotel at 108 First St. will have the upscale Wyndham Hotel brand when it reopens.

“Everything from the floor to the drywall, everything is changed,” owner and Toronto businessman Rupinder Sangha said about the bathrooms. “All new fixtures are top-of-the line quality products.”

When renovation of the nearly 50-year-old building is completed, Sangha estimates his total investment at $11.5-$12 million.

When Sangha took over the 16-story hotel on First Street four years ago, the interior was in pretty bad shape. The boiler was not working, walls were covered with mold and pipes were leaking.

“There was a lot of work to be done,” he said. “The boilers will be new or up to standard. ... Everything was replaced in areas that were problematic ... and we brought the electricity up to new codes.”

The full-service restaurant and a restaurant/bar have been renovated, and a lounge has been created at the second-level swimming pool for guests who want a cocktail.

“I made the public space much bigger in the lobby area with more open space,” Sangha said.

He bought the nearly 200,000-square-foot hotel in 2014. It was painted and some work began on the interior.

Lizella-based Kunj Construction & Development Co. has been working at the hotel about two years as general contractor. Kunj also has an office in Canada.

“We are at the painting stage now with all 300 rooms,” said Kunj owner Ashok Patel. “We are going to start working in the lobby in the next couple of weeks.”

Hardwood floors will go down in each guest room after the painting is completed, he said. Carpet will be laid in the hallways. Marble flooring will be installed in the lobby. A landscaping design is in the works for the exterior.

“The goal is to hopefully have a soft (opening) and ... to open part of it up by the end of the year,” Sangha said.

Once the facility is at full operation, it is expected to employ 120-180 people, he said

After being vacant about seven years, Gary Wheat, president and CEO of the Macon-Bibb County Convention & Visitors Bureau, is looking forward to seeing the hotel reopen.

“We are very hopeful, obviously, for several reasons,” Wheat said. “It will insert nearly 300 rooms into our marketplace, which helps us twofold. Our leisure market on the weekends has grown over 10 percent in the last year. We are seeing a lot of weekend traffic coming from Atlanta ... especially into our downtown area, whether it’s to listen to live music or check out our breweries.”

The location of the hotel is ideal for guests who want to walk a couple of blocks to restaurants, bars or retailers.

“Also, it allows us another meeting hotel, and it will complement our meeting market,” Wheat said. “We’ve talked to (meeting) planners who have 2,000-3,000 room requirements for their delegation, and this allows us additional overflow for our convention center and Centreplex as well as provides us (additional) meeting space.”

The hotel has meeting rooms that would accommodate groups of 30, 300 and up to 1,000, Sangha said.

Wheat said there are about 5,500 rooms in Macon, which “continues to drive north of 60-percent (occupancy),” and the upscale Wyndham Hotel brand will be a good addition for Macon.

“I think it goes back to the feedback we are getting from our meeting planners,” he said. “That’s kind of what they’re looking for. All of our hotels have served our market very well, but from the standpoint of what a delegation or a large event might be looking for is a little more higher end, and Wyndham is a strong brand to be able to attach to that property.”

Hotel owner fought to get the upscale hotel

Getting the Wyndham Hotel brand was not easy, Sangha said.

“They refused me three times,” he said. “They were willing to give me a Park Plaza (another Wyndham product, but with a lower room rate and lower standards). But it was already here, and it had already failed.”

Although room rates for the hotel have not been set, Sangha said it was impossible to operate a nearly 300-room hotel at the lower-level rates because “your costs are much higher.”

Sangha said he thinks Macon is ready for a high-end, destination-driven hotel downtown, and that there is a market for it, especially for convention and tourism customers.

“I think this is a beautiful property. It is a very nice structure,” he said. “It can be brought to a higher standard than just motel-type rooms. To make this property stable, you need a good brand and good furnishings in the hotel to keep the guest coming. ... So, I am glad they are on board, and things are moving along very well.”

The rooms on the 15th and 16th floors will be “Stay Well” suites, which is part of Wyndham’s higher-standard rooms.

“Stay Well rooms incorporate wellness technologies to help improve indoor air quality, sleep patterns and physical comfort, as well as reduce exposure to germs and allergens,” according to a May 24 article in Lodging Magazine. The rooms include an air-purification system, aromatherapy and natural memory foam mattress, it said. The rooms even have an alarm clock that simulates a sunrise to allow “for a more natural waking process process through the use of gradual increasing light.”

Wyndham plans to offer guests this new concept at every hotel in the U.S. by next year.

The hotel holds a lot of memories for a lot of people in Macon, Sangha said. Music legend Elvis Presley stayed there when he performed here in 1977. He died two months later.

Built in 1969, it has had a troubled financial past, going through foreclosure at least twice, but Sangha said despite some media reports to the contrary, his business has no financial issues.

“I was never in financial trouble, and I have put $8 million into renovation (in addition to the purchase price),” he said.

When it was named Ramada Plaza in November 2006, it was the fifth name for the hotel. Prior to becoming a Ramada Plaza, the hotel had the name Crowne Plaza for 10 years. Originally, it was a Hilton from 1970 until 1991, and it was the Macon Downtown Hotel until 1993. From 1993 until 1996, it was a Radisson.

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Closed for seven years, this hotel won’t look the same when it reopens."