July 26–Work has started on a major renovation of the Holiday Inn South at 9940 Airline Highway that will separate the property into two different hotels and overhaul all of the rooms on the property.
Once the $8 million to $10 million project is completed in early 2018, the hotel tower will be a 140-room Holiday Inn, said Ken Singh, who manages the property. The freestanding building next to the tower, with rooms that face parking spaces, will be turned into a 172-room Quality Inn.
Singh said the transformation is taking place because Holiday Inn doesn't want motel-type properties, with low buildings and guests parking outside their rooms. Instead, they want to operate hotels with enclosed rooms built around elevators.
"All of the rooms in both properties will be modern," he said.
The hotel was sold for $5.2 million in April 2016 to Positive Investments of Arcadia, California. Positive will own both the Holiday Inn and the Quality Inn.
Right now, 50 people work at the Holiday Inn South. Once the renovations are completed and the outside building is spun off as a freestanding property, about 15 more people will be hired, Singh said.
