A longtime Topeka hotel has found a new owner.
The Ramada by Wyndham Topeka Downtown Hotel and Convention Center, 420 S.E. 6th Ave., was sold July 31 by Jim Parish, who had owned the hotel for 20 years.
Nayan Patel is the new owner, Parrish said. Patel owns Horizon Edge Hospitality, a Holiday Inn franchise with a hotel in Rochester, NY.
"He has a history of taking on properties that have been around a while and building on their history and the quality of the property and making it better," Parrish said of Patel.
A new name and look on the horizon for the hotel
"Twenty years of hard work we've done to bring this property from a real bad state, which is what it was in 2003, to where it is now," Parrish said. "And it's going to get even better now."
The Ramada not only will undergo a renovation, but a name change as well. The plan is for the Ramada tower to become a Wyndham Garden Hotel, Parrish said, while the three-story building in front of the tower will be dubbed a Hawthorn Suites.
"It's a great thing for us to have someone who not only is willing to take this property on and continue its operation as a hotel but also to invest in it," Parrish said.
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The transition will take several months, he said, and he will work closely with Patel to continue the management of the Ramada buildings.
The Ramada was built in 1963. Parrish said the property is in great shape but needs a newer and more modern look in order to maintain business and employees while keeping up with competitors.
Parrish, who is also the president and CEO of Parrish Hotel Corp., said the Ramada was special to him. Parrish Hotel Corp. also manages Jefferson Street Apartments, 501 S.E. Jefferson.
"It's the last hotel that I've owned," he said. "It's the one that was maybe the hardest to let go, because there's so much going on there, and there's much history there."
Parrish said he couldn't reveal the price of the sale. Shawnee County appraiser records show the property was appraised at $4,085,940, this year.
Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: The Ramada by Wyndham Topeka Downtown Hotel sold to out-of-state owner